As cobbled classics go, Gent-Wevelgem is not the one with the most cobbles on offer. An intriguing race should follow then, as team tactics will be quite important. Bewley and Boonen are of course the favourites whatever happens, but how will the likes of Burghardt, Cancellara and Vanspeybrouck tackle the course?
And to add an extra ingredient to the mix, it is a windy day. Echelons?
A break of 8 went away: Boeckmans Bongiorno Cisse Clement Delaplace Kinney Koretzky Medvedev
BPost's Boeckmans is the best over cobbles amongst them. Surprisingly enough, the 2nd best is pure climber Medvedev.
Early on there was a coalition of teams working on front of the peloton: Becherovka, Pokerstars, Lotto and Simply Red Bull. But for a 25km stretch between 130 and 105km to go, Pokerstars decided to really push the pace. Ingels, Van Impe, Decouttere and Degenkolb really stretched out the peloton, with the high winds evident.
The break's lead was slashed from 7 minute to 2 and a half, before Pokerstars decided to turn off again. Thus the break's lead was able to grow again as they reached the key section of today's race at 100km to go. The following 60km features the main hills and cobbles of the course.
Kamyshev wasted no time in getting in the action, attacking on this first meaningful cobbled section.
Having seen the Kazakh ride clear, four more decided to launch a mid stage attack as well. Kozontchuk, Sinkeldam, Sieberg and Rowe.
Luke Rowe is no stranger to such a mid stage move this season as a similar move in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad saw him ultimately net a 5th place finish.
Some 11km later, they had bridged the gap to the breakaway - with Kamyshev already there. The lead on the peloton is 4 minutes, and the 5 mid race attackers now take control of the pacesetting. It is not long before the national champion of the Ivory Coast, Cisse, is dropped - somewhat out of his depth here!
Wyss and Drucker are the next to set off on a mid stage adventure but at 70km to go, we are now halfway through the key part of the route, and the peloton is riding much faster.
Infact, the peloton has reached breaking point. After the next cobbled climb and descent, a split occurs! A 24 man group has got a small gap, and it is a group full of Rothaus, Simply Red Bull, Pokerstars and Becherovka riders. Also there is a Santander rider! Insausti!
So who is worse than Santander on cobbles? The big names are Vanspeybrouck, Blythe, Summerhill, Sibilla, Albert, Nolf and Fenn.
Simply Red Bull and Rothaus - Aegon really drill it now to try to keep this gap. Drucker and Wyss are swept up, and for 10km the gap is maintained - despite the best efforts of Bpost and Wikipedia's super domestique Van Garderen. Eventually though, it does all come back together.
The leading group meanwhile, still lead by 2 minutes, and at 45km to go are now on the final cobbled section of the race. This is where we say goodbye to the breakaway riders - with the exception of Boeckmans.
Kluge and Degenkolb want to set something up in the peloton, but the rest don't quite seem so keen. The Pokerstars pair has to slow down to avoid riding away.
But once the cobbles end, Bewley attacks!
Nobody follows, so the Kiwi goes off alone to hunt down the mid stage attackers, threading past the former breakaway.
Maybe nobody else attacked, but the race is in pieces. Degenkolb and Kluge lead the pursuit, with Cancellara, Boonen, Boom, Burghardt, Pozzato and Gusev close to the front of the pack.
That pack is soon down to 24, as a group of 13 is shelled out the back. Ballan, Nooytens and Zepuntke are the biggest names in this group.
Even further behind are the likes of Sibilla, Albert and Fenn. (and Bakari!).
As Delaplace and Koretsky are caught from the break, let's see just who is in this group, being led by Cancellara.
That's just 15 riders, plus Kinney and Clement from the break. Juul-Jensen, Lagab and Verbist are soon dropped.
Behind them: De Vocht is at 30 seconds. Nolf, Senechal, Vangheel and Pozzato are at 50 seconds.
The 13 man Ballan/Zepunkte group is at 1'10.
A larger group featuring Sibilla, Fenn and Albert is at 2'00.
Pozzato is a particularly weird case. From being well placed, he put on the brakes when Zepunkte got dropped leading to the Italian getting dropped too - yet he hasnt gone back to help his young German teammate.
Anyway, that is what is going on behind.
Up ahead is Bewley by 40 seconds.
Then by another 30 it is Sinkeldam, Kamyshev, Rowe, Kozontchuk, Sieberg, and Boeckmans, where theyve found another cobbled section!
Kluge is really pushing on the 'peloton' and it is now down to 12 riders. Aside from Degenkolb, it is 11 of the strongest riders in the field. Well, 10 of the strongest riders in the field plus the 23 year old Kiwi Tom David who, by rights, should have been dropped long ago.
Kamyshev and Boeckmans are dropped from the leading group and caught by Bewley, but everything seems to be coming together. The leaders have 20 seconds on Bewley now, and just 50 on the chasing group.
The chasing group splits in two!
Part 1: Cancellara, Kluge, Boonen, Gusev, Burghardt, David
Part 2: Boom, Degenkolb, Vanmarcke, Blythe, Vanspeybrouck, Summerhill
David is STILL there. Wow. He caught the eye last season with some punching above his weight performances for Cadbury-Schweppes: 7th overall in the C1 5 Jours de Dunkerque, and 2nd in the C2 Lincoln GP. But this is something else altogether, his cobbled stat is 73!
It's also impressive to see Kluge still here too, going very well in support of Boonen. And now it seems that Gusev and David are dropping.
30 seconds up the road, Bewley has caught the leaders.
Except he hasn't, because Ramon Sinkeldam has launched a huge attack.
Looking back down the road, we can see Vanmarcke and Summerhill pushing hard in the 'Part 2' group. They have 20 seconds to make up on the next group, where David and Gusev seem to have regained contact.
As Sinkeldam approaches 20km to go, here are the gaps.
+ 40
+ 1'24
+ 1'44
+ 2'00
+ 2'36
+ 2'52
Sinkeldam
Bewley
Boonen
Blythe
Degenkolb
Koretzky
Pozzato
Rowe
Kluge
Vanmarcke
Delaplace
Sieberg
Cancellara
Summerhill
Kozontchuk
Burghardt
Vanspeybrouck
David
Boom
Gusev
Kamyshev
Boeckmans
Just as the situation seemed to be converging, Sinkeldam has really opened things up again.
Under the 20km to go banner, Burghardt, Cancellara and Boonen know that they need to work together well now in these closing stages as they move clear from those behind them.
It looks like Bewley has had it. After nearly 30km of solo riding, he is struggling now. The gap to Sinkeldam remains constant at 40 seconds, and he is getting no help from Rowe, Kozontchuk or Sieberg.
Meanwhile the Vanspeybrouck/Summerhill/Blythe/Rothaus chase group is slipping away. Summerhill and Vanspeybrouck try to attack to close the gaps, but it is probably a little late for that now.
Here we go. Cancellara and Burghardt, the two best cobbled riders in the peloton, along with Boonen - who is quite good himself - have now caught up with Bewley. They have Sinkeldam in their sights.
Gusev rides 9th on the road, with Kluge and David just following. They are a minute behind now.
17 seconds later are Boeckmans, Kamyshev and Summerhill moving forward. It is another 30 second to Vanspeybrouck, and 30 more to Boom, Vanmarcke and Blythe.
10km to go for Sinkeldam. His best result last season was 18th in Paris-Roubaix. Safe to say he is beating that today.
Cancellara and Burghardt are doing all the chasing now. They take the corner, is he there?
No, Sinkeldam has already taken the next corner. Keeping out of sight!
His gap is 1 minute. 1 minute!
And hang on, what's this. They're giving up!! The white flag is raised. Game over.
Sinkeldam is going to win!
They are racing for 2nd place now behind, and as soon as they enter the final 3km, Rowe makes his move. Has he managed to recover some energy to take full advantage of his sprinting abilities?
It's the final kilometre for Sinkeldam.
As Boonen, Bewley and Sieberg take off after Rowe.
Ramon Sinkeldam wins Gent - Wevelgem!
What a ride. He went with the mid-stage attack, but just as Bewley was about to catch him, he found some extra strength from somewhere and just rode away. A career defining race for the Dutchman.
It is Rowe, Sieberg and Boonen in the fight for 2nd place.
And the Brit takes it. Boonen salvages a 3rd place, just sneaking past Sieberg.
Faces of exhaustion behind. 5th for Bewley, 6th for Burghardt, 7th for Kozontchuk and 8th for Cancellara.
That mid stage attack really worked out well, with 4 riders in the Top 7!
Sinkeldam was one revelation of the race, the other was Tom David. Having sat on Gusev's wheel for much of the closing stages, he and Kluge both sprinted past to secure a Top 10 place. Two riders in the Top 10 from New Zealand, who would have thought that?
Gusev came 11th, while Summerhill sprinted past Vanspeybrouck in the final kilometre to take 12th. Bpost teammate Boeckmans actually beating his team leader.
They will be bitterly disappointed to have got dropped when they did - the same for the others behind them, Blythe outsprinting the Rothaus duo for 16th.
And then there's Pozzato in 20th. Having got dropped when he probably shouldn't have, he went on a lone crusade for the remainder of the race.
And as a sign of how the rest of the race shut off behind them. Delaplace and Koretzky, managed to hold on as the 2nd and 3rd best from the initial breakaway for 21st and 23rd, ahead of the larger peloton which was led home by a charging Lagab who nipped in between the two of them for 22nd.
