Hello and welcome to Charleroi for the 2014 edition of the Fleche Wallone, the second of the three big Ardennes classics. Top favourites today are of course the winner of the Amstel Gold Race Yuri Trofimov, as well as Akers world champion Edvald Boasson Hagen and Bouygues Telecoms Jan Bakelants. It is cloudy, but dry here on the start line, with relatively strong winds. Rain later on today seems likely, so it could turn in to a very demanding race.
We have our first attacker, it's Giling who gets the race underway.
In a flurry of opening activity, it's a huge seventeen man group that jump clear of the peleton, and now hold an advantage of roughly a minute. It is less than certain that they will get away, but they're trying, anyway. These are the riders involved: Favili Rabie Smukulis Giling Gallego Martin Kozontchuk Stybar Oliveira Rolland Maaskant Sieberg Senechal Locatelli Vuillermoz Kudus Fuchs Nielsen
It took them about twenty kilometres, but in the end, the group gets caught. They aren't giving up so easily though, as Senechal , Maaskant , Rolland , Oliveira , Stybar and Kozontchuk go on the attack again.
They are joined by eight others, mainly other early escapees, to make what will definitely be the BotD. With 163 KM left, they have an advantage of 3'15" over the peleton. These are the members: Giling Gallego Martin Kozontchuk Stybar Oliveira Rolland Maaskant Sieberg Senechal Locatelli Vuillermoz Kudus Lavery Heymes
So as we see, nobody too special, though everyone is reasonably good on the hills, the best puncher being either Vuillermoz or Oliveira. If the peleton aren't careful, these guys might turn out to be more dangerous than most favourites would like.
As we cross the Mur de Huy for the first time, the gap is at 6'54", and has been hovering around that for quite some time. With a 119 km to go, the break seem well under control.
With 100km to go, the gap has fallen to 5'37". This should turn in to a fairly standard edition of the Fleche Wallone, with the break going for a while, then being caught just before or just after the "real" race starts with the second ascent of the Mur de Huy. But maybe somebody can spice things up a little? The weather remains unchanged as we reach the half way point, but there's still a lot of time for change.
Back in the pack, a good mix of teams is helping the chase. With 46 km to go, the gap has fallen to 2'26".
Johan Le Bon has taken a bad fall! Far away from our tv cameras, race radio claims he hit a pothole throwing him over his handlebar, hitting his head hard on the ground. He's up on his bike again, but he definitely won't make it back to the pack. Let's hope he can recover in time to help his team at La Doyenne though!
At the second ascent of the Mur de Huy, Roche puts the hammer down, eventhough his captain Ginanni is relatively far back in the bunch, and they have Maaskant in the break. Meanwhile, the BotD are still 1'49" ahead.
Giling , the first attacker of the day, is also the first to be dropped from the break. At the other end of the race, Simply - Red Bull still have a rider out the back, though this time it's Sebright, who was dropped on the Mur, where Johan Le Bon managed to catch up to the pack again.
Attack in the descent! Gastauer , Bakelants , Luis Leon Sanchez Gil , Sagan and Boasson Hagen exploit the lack of organisation in the pack and immediately gain twenty seconds. Gastauer and Sagan both have men in the breakaway, so this could be a very clever move indeed.
Van Garderen has joined the attackers, but a well organised chase is forming out the back. This doesn't look like it's going to pay off, after all. They are still only 20 seconds ahead of the pack, and exactly a minute behind the break, with 28 km to go.
Our heli shows us one of the dropped groups as we admire the Belgian scenery. Only domestiques are in these groups, all favourites are either on the attack or in the 107 man strong peleton.
As we reach the next hill on the route, the favourites who attacked are caught. Now they'll have to try and recover for the finish in 20 km. Vuillermoz meanwhile has attacked his breakaway companions and is the sole leader of the race, 51" ahead of the pack.
Still on that hill, the break gets caught. Vuillermoz however is still out front, with an unchanged gap to the pack.
The confusion of the moment sparks more attacks, and this is big. All the attackers from before, minus L.L. Sanche Gil, but plus Trofimov , Gilbert , (out of picture) Ricco , Schuhmacher and Ponzi . They instantly get a lead of 30", while Vuillermoz has 50" over them!
The dream is over fro Vuillermoz and Simply, as Bakelants catches and passes him just before the 10km to go banner. He fought valiantly, but ran out of steam at the end.
Due to some good work by BPost and Pokerstars, all attackers bar Bakelants and Trofimov, who snuck away from the group in the last second, got caugth. 7km to go, and the race is on!
Roche is trying hard in the pack, but Bakelants and Trofimov are still "45 ahead with just over 4 km to go. This is looking good for the two attackers.
Trofimov distances Bakelants as soon as they hit the Mur, while Roche brought down the gap to a slightly better "35 seconds. The Russian is looking good though, and anyone else who wants to win here should go for it as soon as possible.
It's the World Champion himself, Edvald Boasson Hagen, who really puts down the hammer now, and has nearly pulled back Bakelants. Trofimov is still looking good, however.
Hagen attacks and passes Bakelants, while Trofimov passes the flamme rouge a little up the road.
The Norwegian put in a massive attack and nearly caught up to Trofimov. What a race is going on here. Anybody could yet come from behind, but Ginanni , Schleck and Ricco are looking best.
Ginanni surges from behind, while Ponzi appears from nowhere. Which of these four has the most energy left, with 800 metres to go?
It appears to be Ginnani, who is still pedalling hard, while Hagen and Trofimov look beaten.
It'll come right to the line between Ponzi and Ginnani, nothing is seperating the two Italians with 300 metres to go.
Meanwhile, behind a big group containing most favourites (bar Van Garderen, who was dropped on the climb) is sprinting for fifth.
It looks like Ginnani might have this, but it's still really close. Hagen seems to have used up all his energy, as Trofimov looks set for third.
Ginnani is raising his hands in vicory, he did it! He got the win for Pokerstars. Ponzi finishes a close second for Good Energy, while Trofimov rounds off the podium, to make Oleg Tinkov a happy man... or not. Twitter will show. Boasson Hagen finishes fourth, which some may accredit to "The Curse", but is mainly down to the fact that he pulled back Trofimov and Bakelants, who finished in an acceptable, though probably not satisfying 13th place, on his own.
At the rear end of the top 5 finishes Ricco , followed by Schleck , Schuhmacher , Claeys and Valverde , who both rode completely anonymously throughout, and Gilbert
Todays big loser is American boy Tejay Van Garderen, who finished on his own, nearly a minute down on the winners, after attacking multiple times throughout the race.
