After some time it`s finally there. The next cobbled classic of the Pro Tour with the East Midlands Cicle Classic.
Not as many paves as in Roubaix, neither as many hills as the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. So what to expect here? Will a bigger group make it to the finish or are the top cobblers winning it?
Sure the cobblers with a nice sprint are favoured on a route like this with Boonen and Bewley being the top favourites ahead of the pure cobblers Cancellara or Burghardt.
We already reach the first cobbled section and still no real breakaway formed as a big group of 17! riders is trying it for a longer time now. But they are not allowed more than 1min. Gallego Martin Boeckmans Kuznetsov Bodnar Koretzky King Ladagnous Martens Locatelli Kadri Delaplace Christensen Bongiorno Thire Hofland Cisse Predatsch
Strongest cobbler is Bpost`s Boeckmans and almost all teams have a rider in here. Behind mainly Becherovka and Lotto are doing the work with some support by Pokerstars. None of those have sent a rider.
117km to go and two riders attack. This time stronger cobblers as Kruijsijk and Kozontchuk go. Both teams are not included in the group yet.
Bad news for Pokerstars. Top favourite Boonen hit the ground but is on his bike after a few seconds. No problem for him to join the peloton again. But is he injured?
Full control of the group by Becherovka. Only a few seconds ahead the bigger group with some riders trying to jump out of it to create more time.
60km and also Simply Red Bull is joining the chasing now despite having Bodnar in front. Better chance for Cancellara today.
Next leader down. This time wild card team Jaguar with Lagab. But once again he is quick up again and already back in the peloton.
40km and still a small gap of ~1'30 only. And despite the rather big peloton with 162 riders one leader has enough and attacks. It`s Burghardt and we only have 2 sections left. So the cobblers need to start their attacks obviously.
Pendleton`s immediately is chasing, which is bad news for Burghardt but good news for Becherovka, Pokerstars and Red Bull as they can take a small break here.
Burghardt reaches the group and has opened a 1'13 gap now. But is this enough?
Behind real power horses have entered the front and it`s Cancellara himself chasing. Behind him Boom, Lhotellerie and Pozzato.
Only the strongest survived the high chase in the group and so it`s Burghardt, Kruijswijk and Kozontchuk alongside Boeckmans and Kuznetsov. All others are caught 27s behind.
Surprisingly it`s Kuznetsov being the very last as all others including Burghardt is back in the 110 rider peloton. The last paves section is soon to come.
And just when the cobbles came the next attack by big names: Cancellara Bewley Burghardt
and a bit behind: Blythe Gusev Summerhill Boonen
Immediately other teams accelerate behind to catch them. Most notable here are Bpost for Vanspeybrouck and Volkswagen for Pozzato/Zepuntke.
Tommeke looks the strongest and opens a gap to the rest. Huge effort by the Belgium. Who can respond?
Bewley and Gusev try to join him while the others are caught again.
69 riders left in the peloton and no more cobbles.
Riders that are dropped already are Albert, Bakari or Kamyshev.
The two Germans Zepuntke and Burghardt as also German speaking Cancellara try to attack.
They pull some more riders with them but none of them is able to create a gap.
And also Gusev struggles. He can`t follow the stronger duo in front. 20s already for him and another 20s for the peloton with 9km to go.
5km and Gusev is back!
Bewley with another attack as the peloton is coming closer and obviously he is afraid of Boonen`s sprint.
Gusev done now as he is back in the peloton. The duo still ahead being up to 33s. Soon the sprint will start and who is in a good position?
Vanspeybrouck
Summerhill
Gusev
Vanmarcke
Burghardt
Pozzato
Ballan
Kluge
Eeckhout
Blythe
De Vocht
Fenn
Vansummeren
Jacobs
Kruijswijk
Sibilla
Lhotellerie
Van Heerden
Cancellara
Lagab
Vanspeybrouck in front but Summerhill coming closer and also Vanmarcke and Pozzato are opening a gap.
But two more are still further up with Bewley having a small gap to Boonen.
This will be very close as Boonen joined Bewley in front and just a bit behind many riders fight for the best spots.
Bewley or Boonen?
Or somebody from behind?
Not decided yet and it will be very close.
Still 11s and it seems as if the first two positions are gone for those. But look at this rider in green!
Jaguar`s Lagab with a huge sprint going into the 3rd position ahead of Pozzato. Also the others went too early and are caught by the next riders now.
The win though goes to Bewley who is able to defend his small gap. Boonen as 2nd just ahead of a very strong Lagab. Good that both were not injured after their crashes.
Behind Pozzato takes 4th ahead of Cancellara.
Kluge as 6th, then Sibilla, Blythe, Summerhill and Broers.
Bad luck for Vanspeybrouck (12th), Vanmarcke (13th), Burghardt (21st), Gusev (22nd). Not enough for those four teams for sure and so those belong to the biggest losers probably.
