Welcome to the Netherlands for the 2015 Cauberg Classic, a race which will see the best continental puncheurs compete over the famous Cauberg climb. The top pre-race favourites are Mendes, Vastaranta and Zeits.
Soon the race begins, and a break is formed, which quickly gets a gap of 6 minutes. Those involved are:
Capecchi Brynjolfsson Signorini Wengelin
The gap remains at around the 6 minute mark until 70 kilometres to go, where the peloton begins to start reducing the advantage. Novatek, In-n-Out and Netia are among the teams on the front of the group who are regulating the pace for their leaders.
Moving onto 25 kilometres to go, where the gap the the break is still just over 2 minutes. It is here we see the first move from a favourite with Rabon deciding to attack with 3 laps of the course remaining!
More favourites soon follow at the top of the climb, with Zeits, Vastaranta and Gaimon also deciding to jump away from the main field.
Back at the front, Wengelin and Capecchi have managed to drop Brynjolfsson and Signorini.
The situation with 15 kilometres to go sees the peloton 1'50" behind the two leaders, so it's looking like these two riders may be able to get a surprise result today!
Not satisfied at being in the front two though, Wengelin decides to try and go solo and puts in an attack!
The peloton decides to really lift the pace, which catches Zeits, Vastaranta and Gaimon. Rabon and the early attackers remain up the road though, with Weneglin still having an advantage of about 2 minutes with just 12 kilometres left.
Rabon has now caught Signorini, and is now only a minute behind the leader. He'll have to push on hard now to catch them.
With just 1 lap remaining, Weneglin has a gap of 20 seconds back to Capecchi, with both looking tired. Can they hold on?
Weneglin has grown the gap with 5 kilometres left, and is actually growing the gap back to Rabon and the peloton. What a ride! Capecchi still has him in his sights, it looks like it will be between these two for the victory today.
It's looking like Weneglin's race as they hit the bottom of the climb, with his gap to Capecchi extending to 25 seconds!
Netia are setting the pace going into the final few kilometres for the main field but it's looking too late for them. They've managed to reel in Signorini but Rabon is a minute ahead so it will be a sprint for fourth.
Today's winner though is Weneglin, who is too tired to celebrate as he crosses the line. What a performance from the Swede, who rode away from his fellow attackers and held off the rest of the field to claim a welcome victory for Carlsberg.
Capecchi finishes second half a minute back, also a nice and unexpected result for the Italian and his BelarusBank team.
Rabon then finishes 1'34" down on the winner. He was the best of the favourites today and was rewarded for his early attack, but will wonder what might have been if the break was caught.
Behind, the sprint has begun in the peloton, with Netia dominating the first positions. Pozdnyakov, Zeits and Mendes all are in good positions.
It's Pozdnyakov who claims 4th for Novatek, making it a nice 3-4 for them. His sprint was so impressive it actually gapped the field.
Mendes rounds off the top 5 in a distant fifth.
Stachowiak is a surprising 6th, with Simon finishing behind in 7th.
De Maar is 8th, another in the top-10 for Carlsberg on a successful day for them.
Acevedo and Finetto round off the top 10 in 9th and 10th respectively.
Favourites such as Vastaranta, Gaimon and Zeits all finished outside of the top-10, drained by their attacks earlier. Not the best day for them and their teams here in the Netherlands.
