With the Dwars Door Vlaanderen yet another cobbled classic today. After previous performances all odds are on Summerhill. Bpost surely wants to avoid this with Vanspeybrouck and his great support. Other big names here are Baugnies, Boonen, Maes, Thomas or Vanmarcke.
It took a long time until the break of 6 was allowed to go. Earlier up to 14 riders tried to attack the peloton together. With 50km inside the race though, those six made it: Delgerbayar Bol Bazzana Kulppi Averin Nardin
Shortly before the first cobbled section though we see 3 more attacks of 2nd tier cobblers. Joseph Østergaard
After two sections with paves the duo join the break. With a gap of 3'30 this is going to be interesting now.
And meanwhile we see a split in the peloton as well on those sections. Some good cobblers in there and by the amount of Lululemon riders you might guess, who for sure: Thomas and all his helpers. Also caught behind is Steurs and just seconds later Verbist punctures and joins the later group as well. Thanks to Lululemon though those better cobblers all make it back to the top group again.
77km to go and we see 3 more attacks: Polanc Kurth Van Wyk
Only last though can stay in front while the other two are caught 10km later.
56km solo? On one of the longest sections Summerhill attacks. He must feel good then. Otherwise he could have waited a bit longer to attack on the steeper hills. Still 5 sections to come and 3 very tough climbs.
With exactly 50km to go the peloton sees another selection as Amex and Bpost mainly have highered the pace.
Notable riders being dropped are: Steurs Nooytens Polanc Steegmans Lander Del Nero
Summerhill is coming to the breakaway with 45km to go. The gap to the peloton of 38 riders is at 1min only though and many riders doing the pace.
Except for Amex, Bpost and to some extent Puma no team is working though. One reason surely the lack of helpers. Boonen, Maes, Vanmarcke all with maximum 1 helper left.
After the steepest climb of the day another split in the peloton. Biggest name surely Baugnies. But also Daniel, Drucker, Veelers, De Vocht, Breschel and Farrar are caught in the later group of 18 riders with the same size in the first.
It was the 3rd last cobbled section and one with an slightly uphill road. It`s time for Vanspeybrouck to follow Summerhill`s move.
The American only with Joseph in the front while Nardin is in between.
Bpost with Stallaert also having the sprinter option in the next group including Maes, Vandenbergh, Langeveld, Vanmarcke and Boonen as well. Last two at least with some support again due to the morning break. The group behind still being close as Gazelle and Lululemon is working hard.
Also the Baugnies group another 30s later is going strong led by Amex.
Vanspeybrouck is not really allowed to go. The big engine of Maes mainly is pulling him back.
Behind them the dropped break riders and also including mid stage attacker Ostergaard.
The two later groups fusioned together and have a 1'30 gap.
22km and still the dup Summerhill/Joseph in front. First though is working completely alone! Joseph not doing anything here on the last cobbled section now and the gap to the next 8 is only 55s.
Make it group of 9! Baugnies with a huge come back. First he joined the 2nd peloton to then jump solo to the first chasing group.Huge rider by him here. Gazelle/Lululemon group is 1'11 behind!
And Baugnies continues this comeback! He attacks with 5km to go as the group clearly wasn`t working well together. Instead of fighting for the win here, the riders apparently gave up to catch the duo in front. With Bpost having two riders all others were waiting to see them do the work. But while they did the most, they also didn`t want to do all on their own with riders like Boonen in the group.
Even the gap to the 2nd peloton is becoming smaller while the leading duo has a 90s gap already.
So if one can stop this duo to win, it`s Baugnies today.
Being motivated by this move Boonen and Vanmarcke also accelerate. Or is it already the sprint. Hard to say at the moment. But clearly those two are the strongest, which is towards Bpost`s favour.
Summerhilly realizes that he won`t get any support by Joseph. Instead he is doing everything alone to keep the gap to the other groups but also exhausting himself. Not the fairest play by Joseph here, who sees a struggling US American in front of him.
Will he? The Belgian goes around him in the corner starting his sprint, either surprising him or Summerhill was absolutely over his limit.
A bit behind Vanmarcke and Boonen go head to head in the sprint. Baugnies is just a few meters ahead looking in danger for the deserved podium spot.
What a win for Lierse! As clear outsider bet as a CT team in this high class PCT field. Joseph with possibly his biggest career moment.
Behind him a really angry Summerhill comes in 2nd. He surely is not happy with losing this after basically a 55km solo as he was 10km completely alone and then except for the first kilometers of short rest in the break, he was leading the final 30km again with Joseph wheel sucking behind him.
In the end Lierse might say, that everything else would have been tactically wrong though and the win shows, they are right.
Baugnies surely one of the strongest today if not the strongest. He just missed the one big selection at the wrong time!
He even is able to outsprint the next duo as soon as they tried to past him. Boonen in the end the expected faster sprinter against Vanmarcke. Both with solid races but with horrible support today.
The sprint of the next group wins Stallaert ahead of Langeveld and Maes. Vanspeybrouck and Vandenbergh complete the top10.
Daniel wins the next group sprint ahead of Trentin and De Vocht and Drucker.
Biggest disappointment surely Veelers 16th, Thomas 29th and Breschel 35th.
