Klemme, Monfort, Levarlet, Bellis, Betancourt or Kwiatkowski should be the favorites for today's hilly classic around Gisborne, New Zealand. Perfect weather, let's bring it on.
A first escaping group was brought back quickly, but with still 180km to go, a group of 6 riders is allowed to go clear:
Davis Flaksis Lee McLay Tleubayev Vangenechten
establish a gap up to 6 minutes halfway through the race..
The peloton though looks in control of things today: with still 40km remaining, teams like RBC, Nutresa and Project: Africa work well together, cutting the gap down to just a few seconds.
Let's keep this short: just a few minutes later, the break of the day is pulled back, with Lee as the last one trying but failing to hold off the great working bunch!
The race then settled down for a while, but on the penultimate climb (12.5km to go) the action is on:
Monfort as the first top-favorite to attack today!
Bellis trying to follow..
Monfort opening up a 20"-gap quickly, while Bellis couldn't hang on, finding himself back in a group of 17 riders just a few moments later:
this chasing group features most of the promising contenders, but Bellis now amongst those, who struggle to follow a small group of 6 riders jumping behind Monfort:
Not yet on the move are riders like Craven or Siskevicius!
Monfort holding on to his 15"-gap until the final 2.5km, still fighting to hold off the chasing group:
Klemme, Betancourt, Kwiatkowski and Hoogerland dropped Ziesler and Bennett easily. Those four are 40" ahead of a 11-men-group with Ziesler, Bellis, Levarlet or Zeits now.
Bennett, by the way, totally cracking after being dropped by group Klemme. The Kiwi finds himself already further 45" behind group Bellis, now trying to support his captain Craven (accompanied by Rabie)!
Final km and Monfort still in the lead, even though the group is coming closer now! Klemme and Kwiatkowski kicking with a strong acceleration, which brings Hoogerland into serious trouble..
..but Monfort holds on til the line! Leading solo for the final 12km of the race, it's a deserved win after a huge effort and perfect timing as well.
Klemme sprinting for a narrow 2nd ahead of Kwiatkowski, who's having a great early season. Betancourt and Hoogerland completing the Top-5 then.
Ziesler/Juul-Jensen/Haas make it it 6-7-8 for Risa, after attacking the next chasing group about 2km before finish. Ziesler with a huge effort after being dropped together with Bennett, always fighting his way in between those two chasing groups.
McEvoy/Vakoc with a 9-10 for Karcher then, denying Zeits a Top-10 result today..
A rather disappointing 12th place for Bellis, who was the first to follow Monfort. He suffered just a few moments later, so might have overestimated his legs today. RBC still with 3 inside the Top-15 at least.
Definitely a bad day for Project: Africa, as Bennett is their best finisher as 17th (Craven 21st eventually). Bennett dropped back quite quickly after being in the first chasing group for a few moments. Did he just crack or did he become a victim of team orders here?
