Note before: Something seems to have gone wrong with Lotto's helmets. My apologies for that.
Welcome to the first of the Ardennes races. Today we have 184 riders lined up in a long, hilly race. For now, it looks like it's dry, but who knows what the weather will do, as the sky looks very grey. Could this help deciding in who will follow up Boasson Hagen?
After 5 easy kilometers, where everyone is taking it easy, the attacks start. Ovechkin and Wilman attack. Tinkov seems to be trying to take away workload by sending a rider in the break. B&O however doesn't have a rider like Trofimov and this is the best way to get exposure in this race for the Danish team.
Pendleton's is also trying to take away workload, and sends their young Kazakh rider Lutsenko into the break.
Another attacker comes quickly after Lutsenko. Grippo is trying to reach the front of the race as well.
Leezer and Gallego MartÃn also attack.
It doesn't end there! Bablidze also attacks.
When Bablidze joins the break, the lead for the group of 7 is already over 3 and a half minute.
The break however already seems doomed. The pack is already organizing itself. Aker-MOT, Vesuvio - Accumalux, Wikipedia, Pokerstars.com and, surprisingly, Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank are chasing. Tinkov must have a master plan, with Ovechkin becoming an annoyance for the break later on, making it harder to succeed.
The pack does give a lot of space to the break though. At the foot of the first ascent of the Cauberg, at 179kms from the finish, the lead is 9min42.
When the pack reaches the Cauberg the lead is already over 10 minutes. That seems to be the reason why Rothaus - Aegon, Becherovka - Kiwibank, Prio - Porto, VolksWagen-Mapei and Team Bpost - Vlaanderen go help the chase in the pack.
Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank may be one of the teams with an impressive tactical plan, but what if the leader isn't feeling well? Although it probably doesn't tell us much, Trofimov is in the back of the pack at the Cauberg. 2010 winner Schleck is also there.
Trofimov seems to have understood the danger of being in the back and quickly heads to the front of the race. Schleck does the same thing.
This seems to be the start sign of the chase. Aker-MOT brings Bystrom and Nordhaug to the front, Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank has Kozontchuk and Brutt in front, Pokerstars.com is chasing with Maaskant, Christensen and De Weert, Vesuvio - Accumalux chases with Kirsch and Einsle, and to the surprise of many Bouygues Telecom places Agostini in the line of chasers.
Despite the hard work of Bouygues Telecom in the pack, Bablidze keeps on working in the break.
The rain hasn't started yet, and luckily no crashes have occurred. Reichenbach does suffer a puncture though.
With 127 kilometers to go the break reaches the highest point of the race, and even the highest place of the Netherlands, the Vaalserberg.
7 minutes and 44 seconds later Agostini reaches the top first of the pack.
In this quiet phase of the race there's not much to do, so we'll take a look in the pack, where we can see that all favourites are at place 30-50 in the pack, which seems to be right where they need to be.
At the foot of the Cauberg, which we will climb for the second of 3 times now, something important has to be noticed: the rain. It has started raining, which increases the risk of crashes and material failures.
At the Cauberg, the gap has already decreased a lot and the pack has about 75 kilometers to bridge the gap of 4min43 to the break.
15 kilometers later the chase has its speed increased, mainly due to the pack that wants to bridge the gap, but also due to the weather, as it has stopped raining.
The race seems to continue in quietude, but at the first hill, the Wolfsberg, we have a surprise. Van Garderen and Trofimov attack! I don't think anyone had expected this. Have dave92 and Tinkov made a plan together?
Some riders try to bridge the gap: Schleck, Roux and Van Garderen's teammate McCarthy attack. The last two don't get far though.
In the chase we see new teams and riders come to the front. Team Vueling Airlines brings Kadri to the front to help Valverde. Many key riders, including Claeys, Boasson Hagen and Ginanni appear in front.
With 35kms to go we can only give an overview of the situation
Leaders: Grippo, Lutsenko, Leezer, Bablidze, Wilman, Gallego MartÃn, Ovechkin
+1.17 Chasing group: Schleck, Van Garderen, Trofimov
+1.48 Peloton: Including Boasson Hagen, Ginanni, Gilbert, Bakelants, Schumacher and many others.
With 33km to go Ginanni takes over the lead in the peloton himself. Immediately the gap to the first two groups decreases.
With the second group being even closer Ponzi decides to jump towards the chasing trio.
However, with 30 kilometers to go the quartet is reeled in.
In the break chaos has struck. Leezer, Lutsenko, Gallego MartÃn and Bablidze have attacked.
Many new attacks occur in the pack. The quartet that had just been picked up manages to get away again. Roche, Bakelants and Claeys have attacked and try to reach the current third group.
Gilbert, Ginanni, Flügel and Roux are setting up another attack, although only Gilbert gets away.
At the foot of the Eyserbosweg, 25 kilometers from the line, the situation is
Leaders: Leezer, Lutsenko, Gallego MartÃn, Bablidze
0.16 Chase 1: Grippo, Ovechkin, Schleck, Van Garderen, Wilman, Trofimov,
0.36 Chase 2: Bakelants, Roche, Claeys
0.52 Chase 3: Gilbert
1.20 Peloton: Including Boasson Hagen, Ginanni, Riccò.
At the climb itself the first 4 groups merge.
And after the top all has changed again. Trofimov, Schleck and Ponzi lead, just ahead of the many chase groups.
The pack itself stops chasing now, which means it's likely all leaders are gone. In total we have 28 riders ahead of the pack.
Boasson Hagen, pretty invisible so far this race, heads up the Fromberg as 11th, in a group with Gilbert, Schumacher, Gastauer and Sagan.
20 seconds ahead of that we have a group of 3 riders. Riccò, Valverde and Claeys.
They are chasing though. 18 seconds ahead of that we find Bakelants, Van Garderen and Roche form the second group, 30 seconds behind the leading trio.
A little later Van Garderen has enough of chasing and joins the 3 in front. They have 22 seconds to the second group.
Further behind Boasson Hagen has accelerated and is now close to reaching the third group.
When Sagan catches up the 3rd group merges with the second group.
Or not. It seems the riders of the first group put too much effort in trying to merge and Bakelants and Roche manage to get away easily.
Eventually the chase starts again, but the damage seems to be too big.
2 minutes behind Hagen, 3 minutes behind the leaders we find another group. This one includes Schumacher and 2012 winner Gilbert. The group seems to be out of contention for victory, but apparently 12th place is still worth something.
With 5kms to go we have the following situation
Leaders: Trofimov, Schleck, Van Garderen, Ponzi
+0.16 Chase 1: Bakelants, Roche.
+0.40 Chase 2: Boasson Hagen, Riccò, Valverde, Sagan, Claeys
+3.15 Chase 3: Group with Schumacher, Ginanni and Gilbert.
At the foot of the Cauberg, the first three groups haven't changed, although the 3rd group (2nd chase) is coming closer and closer.
However Trofimov makes sure his group won't get caught. The gap increases to 25 seconds, where it was 16 seconds at the foot of the climb.
Hagen seems to have wasted energy. Sagan has to take over the chase. The third group is losing the second group.
With 1.5kms to go the road becomes a bit flatter. Trofimov ups his pace, only Schleck can follow, while Van Garderen and Ponzi seem to crack.
In the second group Roche takes over the lead and he seems to crack Bakelants.
With 1 kilometer left to ride Trofimov accelerates. Schleck is in trouble now.
However, Schleck manages to find one last breath and tries to jump past Trofimov.
A bit behind Ponzi is stronger than Van Garderen, or at least it seems like that.
At the finish Trofimov doesn't let Schleck surprise though and delivers Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank a brilliant and well-deserved victory!
Ponzi beats Van Garderen for 3rd, completing the podium.
Roche comes 5th, having distanced Bakelants.
Riccò easily wins the sprint for 7th, which gives the impression more would have been possible. Claeys comes 8th, 9th is a very disappointing and disappointed top favourite Boasson Hagen, while Valverde completes the top-10. Sagan comes last of the group, making it an 11th place for him.
12th place is for Gastauer, beating many other disappointments. Gilbert comes 12th, Ginanni 13th, Schumacher is just 18th.
