Perfect weather conditions (for the professionals at least) and a packed startlist - one of the most prestigious Conti cobbled classics is ready to be kicked off:
Summerhill and Vanspeybrouck as the favorites, hoping (and maybe going) for a more selective race that we saw in Gent. Boonen proved his good shape there and should be considered as another top-favorite today.
An early breakaway group of 6 riders - building a gap to eight minutes - is joined by a mid race attacking duo about 75km before finish:
Bercz Tratnik Barclay Vandewalle Kiprotich Opie
Grashev Taramarcaz
When this duo caught up to the early break, the peloton would be 3'55" in arrears - with the most challenging sectors now ahead.
BPost as the most active team in the chase - narrowing the gap to less than a minute - and Vanspeybrouck as the first favorite to make a move here:
34km remaining and the Belgian goes clear from a 36-men-bunch, with also Summerhill, Thomas or Boonen trying to open up a gap!
Vanspeybrouck managed to hold those chasers off and catches up to the last two remaining escapees Grashev/Taramarcaz 25km before finish.
A few more riders also broke clear from the bunch, so we may have seen the crucial moves already:
Summerhill 27" behind the new leading trio
Vanmarcke further 31" in arrears..
Behind Vanmarcke, there's also Boonen and Baugnies on the chase now, dropping the remaining 29-men-bunch with their acceleration..
20km to go and Vanspeybrouck/Grashev dropped Taramarcaz in the meantime, with Summerhill still fighting to join the leading duo.
Vanmarcke and Boonen/Baugnies facing quite a gap now..
10km remaining and Vanspeybrouck keeps pacing in order to hold off the solo chasing Summerhill! Grashev not able or willing to help, but he's hanging on.
Summerhill already 55" behind, so not looking as he would make his way to the front duo!
Another minute behind Summerhill, it's now Vanmarcke catching up to Taramarcaz, who's trying to keep his wheel.
Boonen/Baugnies just 22" in arrears, so Vanmarcke is pulling the strings hard to maintain this gap!
The bunch (still 29 riders) with all remaining favorites is yet another minute behind..
Vanspeybrouck desperately tried to shake off Grashev, but the Bulgarian did hang on til the final km! The top-favorite now in the worse position at the front, with Grashev kicking off his sprint..
..for the win! Grashev with a huuuge victory over Vanspeybrouck, who had nothing left for this sprint here.
Wheelsucking paid off for Grashev, who - to be fair - did an outstanding job to hang on with Vanspeybrouck over that final 20-25km of the race.
+ 1'14" for Summerhill, who comes in as 3rd. He failed to catch Vanspeybrouck, when the Belgian wasn't too far ahead and couldn't close that growing gap then.
+ 2'16" Taramarcaz and Vanmarcke
+ 2'30" Boonen, who dropped Baugnies on the final few kilometres
Also a huge result for Taramarcaz, who did the same as Grashev: follow Vanmarcke, who paced hard to hold off Boonen, to save some energy for the sprint then..
+ 3'07" for Baugnies, who finishes closely ahead of the bunch then. He suffered from his efforts to follow Boonen, but brings home this 7th place eventually.
Stallaert, G-W winner Daniel and Trentin complete the Top-10.. defending and two-time champion Eisel with a respectable 14th place in the end.
A few other favorites like Thomas (18th), Veelers (12th)or Vandenbergh (22nd) couldn't deliver today. Especially TomTom with a fairly poor result: Schoonbroodt (29th) as best, with Maes just going as 34th eventually. We're not sure, what happened to Machado (67th). Didn't notice any incident.
