It is time for the second monument of the season, the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The King of Flanders Tom Boonen is looking for a third consecutive victory, which would be his 6th in 8 years.
This is his race, and none of his main rivals have ever won it - Burghardt, Bewley, Cancellara, Vanspeybrouck, Blythe and Summerhill. An exicting race is almost guaranteed - there has always been a solo winner since 2009, and in those first two MG editions it was only a 2 man sprint.
It's a long race, and as such demands a large breakaway. 16 men made the move, and what is most interesting is that most of the race favourites have put a man in the group.
Rybakov Kuznetsov Sbaragli Atkins Kinney Atkins Dillier Taubel Van der Lijke Breen Viennet Bodnar Vlatos Godet Hofland English
Cristoph Taubel is the strongest rider in the group, but the one to watch has got to be Vegard Breen after his 3rd place in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Bpost, Pendleton's and Good Energy are the main teams not to have a rider in the move. (The only others are 1t4i, Bouygues, Hornbach, Santander and ING). Pendleton's in particular get involved with the early peloton pace setting but actually, the likes of Lotto, Pokerstars and Simply Red Bull do still have riders leading the peloton - they aren't using the breakaway as an excuse to save energy.
After a sunny start to the day, wet weather descends. But unlike in Gent-Wevelgem, there is no strong wind to be found today.
Nick Van der Lijke, onloan from Quickstep, leads the break onto the first cobbled sector of the day. There are still 142km remaining, and the break leads by 7 and a half minutes.
With 135km to go we already have our first mid-race attack. These have proved very successful so far this season, and always in amongst them is Luke Rowe. He has Pieter Jacobs for company, but this does feel like a particularly early mid-stage move, even if we are now halfway through the race.
Punctures in the peloton for Soupe, Medvedev and Bush, while Swisscom prefer to crash - Hugentobler and Fumeaux hitting the deck in separate incidents. Also a faller is Latvian champion Flaksis.
With 105km to go, Jacobs and Rowe make contact with the breakaway. It leads by 6'10 and now features representation from 18 of the 24 teams in the race.
Crash in the peloton! McCarthy goes down, taking Korzh and more importantly, Ballan with him. The Italian being one of only two former winners in the race.
But bigger news than that! Unseen by the TV cameras, race radio has reported that Michel Sibilla has abandoned the race! Terrible news for Aker-MOT, with Sibilla being one of only 9 riders in the field with 81+ cobbles.
At 90km to go, a very dangerous attack launches from the peloton. It is Gent-Wevelgem winner Ramon Sinkeldam.
He is allowed to go away, albeit nobody goes with him. And soon after, at 80km to go, Pokerstars click into motion. First up, it is Van Impe and Ingels raising the pace of the peloton.
This has the effect of dropping many of the weaker riders in the race. Especially when Kluge takes over from Ingels 10km later.
And woah, I didn't expect this. With 60km still to go, Boonen attacks! Burghardt is right on his wheel.
Cancellara and Gusev follow, but there is some confusion as many of the day's breakaway are caught at this time.
Boonen gets distracted, but Cancellara and Burghardt press on.
Bewley gets up to Boonen and with Gusev they start to work together.
Vanspeybrouck, Blythe and Summerhill are concerned and move forward too. Not attacking, but simply riding clear of the rest of the peloton.
Burghardt and Cancellara press on - they have caught Sinkeldam after his earlier move, plus Sbaragli and Kuznetsov too.
So who is left up front? Rowe and Jacobs are leading the way, with only Taubel and Breen still hanging on.
They have 1'30 on Burghardt and Cancellara, 2'00 on Bewley, Boonen and Gusev, 2'30 on Blythe and Summerhill, 4'00 on the remains of the peloton. (Where Sinkeldam and co are falling back to).
Disaster has struck for Vanspeybrouck though. Having been with Blythe and Summerhill, he punctured. Terrible timing, and now he and his teammates are chasing just to get back to the peloton.
Blythe and Summerhill catch up with Boonen, Bewley and Gusev. They all start looking at each other.
Burghardt and Cancellara are not looking at each other. They are working together fine, and pulling away quickly.
1 minute, 2 minutes ... this is becoming very dangerous, and still they look at each other. Sbaragli and Sinkeldam are able to catch up and now here comes the return of Vanspeybrouck! He has recovered, come back through the peloton and off the front of it again.
Only now do Boonen and Bewley do something - they attack.
But one by one, they all come back. Gusev, Summerhill, Blythe, Vanspeybrouck, Sinkeldam and also new attacker Trentin. Nobody wants to work together, all the while Cancellara and Burghardt are riding away with the race.
Up front, Jacobs, Rowe and Breen are now caught by Burghardt and Cancellara.
Taubel is dropped, the hills have taken their toll, and a whole 3 and a half minutes later is the peloton. Boonen, Bewley, Gusev, Summerhill, Blythe, Trentin, and Sinkeldam are all back in there.
Gusev isn't happy and takes to the front.
In this group are:
Kruijswijk
Breschel
Bewley
Blythe
Fenn
Verbist
Gusev
Senechal
Minoungou
Boonen
Nolf
Kluge
Van Impe
Sinkeldam
Vanmarcke
Ballan
Nooytens
Boom
Sbaragli
Wyss
Drucker
Vanspeybrouck
Franzoi
Veelers
Trentin
Lindeman
Wynants
Kamyshev
Zepuntke
Teunissen
Summerhill
Eeckhout
PCT wildcards Hornbach are certainly impressing here with the most depth in this group, along with Rothaus.
Everybody else is out of the running. De Vocht, Albert and Eisel are the strongest riders missing and they lead a slow moving group that is over 3 minutes behind the peloton. The additional consequence of Vanspeybrouck's puncture is that his teammates also dropped back to help him, and they did not manage to regain contact.
It's over for them, but is it over for everyone else too? They trail the lead group by 3 minutes with 29km to go. We have the Muur and the Bosberg as the two key remaing cobbled climbs. Rowe, Jacobs and Breen could be on for an extraordinary Monument result.
There are still some who want to make a race of it, namely Gusev and Kluge. Gusev's work is admirable, but it isn't going to help him out much to do all the work. The gap is falling, down to 1'40 already with 24km to go.
It's only Burghardt and Cancellara relaying up front. They won't be keen to have company, and may be pacing their efforts at this stage.
Theres a brief show of intent from Boonen and Bewley as they hit the front.
It's worth nothing that Drucker, Verbist, Minoungou, Eeckhout, Sbaragli and Van Impe have all been dropped by the peloton by now.
Under the 20km to go banner it is Nolf who has taken over. Finally Pokerstars' 2nd strongest rider is getting involved with the chase. The gap is now just 1'12.
Here's the Muur! 17km to go, and now just 48 seconds. Maybe it was good tactics after all for the riders to sit up and get Kluge, Nolf and Pokerstars/Becherovka's apparent new signing Gusev to do to the work? Of course, the gap wouldnt have been there in the first place if they hadnt sat up, and it still isnt closed down yet.
As suspected, Cancellara and Burghardt have been waiting for this moment. The pace of Burghardt is too strong up the Muur, and they have now dropped Rowe, Jacobs and Breen.
And over the top, those three are joined by Boonen and Bewley! They did not attack, they just rode off the peloton.
They needed to do that too, as the new pace up front means the gap was going up. Bewley and Boonen have closed the gap slightly to 37 seconds, but the peloton are losing ground again. Will the others respond?
It is now time for the Bosberg, the final cobbles of the race. These front two have been together since 54km to go, and are still happy to work with each other.
And Bewley has dropped Boonen!! Hopes of adding another win to his records are slipping away for the Pokerstars man.
Can Bewley make contact up front though? It is 34 seconds approaching the final 10 kilometres.
He quickly gained 30 seconds on Boonen, with another 30 seconds to the peloton.
Once again it is left for Gusev to do the work. Hornbach and Rothaus have numbers, but don't fancy it. Vanspeybrouck will be rueing the absence of Albert.
It is Burghardt and Cancellara vs Bewley. They know that they don't have much chance in a sprint if he catches them.
Bewley is gaining! The gap is down to 20 seconds.
Boonen is stuck in no mans land with the peloton hovering behind him - Senechal trying to offer some support to his leader.
There's been no attempt from either Cancellara or Burghardt to attack - united against a common enemy. But the Swiss man has now planted himself on the wheel of Burghardt. 2.5km to go, the end is in sight.
Bewley is digging deep. 15 seconds now, it is getting close.
Sensing danger, Cancellara hits the front.
Meanwhile the peloton has begun to sprint it out. Breschel, Blythe, Vanspeybrouck, Senechal, Trentin and Kluge are the front row. Behind them are Summerhill, Rowe, Vanmarcke and Gusev.
Cancellara wasn't only moving to the front, this is his move for victory! Can Burghardt respond?
Bewley is out of it now. Just couldnt quite catch up.
In the peloton, Trentin is sprinting the best, which is good news for Vanmarcke on his wheel.
And Cancellara starts to pull away.
He is going to do it! After so many years of trying, Fabian Cancellara finally wins Ronde van Vlaanderen!
Burghardt rode a great race, but somebody had to come 2nd. Bewley takes 3rd having given all he could in the closing stages to get on terms.
Boonen is also out of energy now, as Vanmarcke closes up to him.
And yes, Sep Vanmarcke is going to take 4th place to be the highest placed Belgian in the race. Boonen fades to 7th as teammate Kluge manages 5th despite all his work, and Trentin takes a strong 6th for Hornbach.
Ballan recovers from his early crash for 8th, while Breschel and Veelers make it 3 PCT riders in the Top 10!
Very disappointing outcomes for the likes of Blythe, Vanspeybrouck and Summerhill who should all have made the Top 10 but instead are 11th, 18th and 17th.
Even worse for Gusev, an undeserved 31st - the last finisher in the peloton.
