A flat, but challenging circuit around Grozny. Several kilometres of cobbles, rainy weather and strong crosswinds (up to 70kmh) make for a brutal day in the saddle!
Summerhill and Vanspeybrouck as the clear favorites, Baugnies and Boonen as the most promising contenders behind this duo.
A breakaway with 4 riders is quickly going clear today:
Bouglas Vingerling Herklotz Galedo
They are building a lead up to 10 minutes before the peloton starts chasing about half-time. Several crashes and punctures occur on those slicky roads: Breschel (puncture) and Kurth (fall) as the most notable names maybe.
A few more riders then joining the breakaway with still 96km left:
Kozontchuk was the first to attack, followed by Grashev Steurs a few kilometres later
This new 7-men-break leads by six minutes with 95km remaining..
The big teams went for a pretty brutal pace then and with still 65km to go, we see the pack already gone into pieces:
Vanspeybrouck himself now leading the first group (29 riders), that is just two minutes behind the breakaway, where just Grashev, Steurs, Kozontchuk and Herklotz are left!
Already dropped from the bunch:
Joseph Nepomnyachsniy Weber Kurth
to name just a few!
The selection goes on with the big guns now setting the pace: 53km left, the breakaway is soon to be caught and we see a group of five going clear from the first chasing group!
Thomas Boonen Summerhill Vanspeybrouck Vanmarcke
Maes already 44" behind
Baugnies further 17" in arrears!
38km and the breakaway group had no chance to hang on, once it was caught by the top-favorites:
Summerhill/Vanspeybrouck now dropping Vanmarcke/Thomas, with Boonen being dropped a few moments before (30" behind now)! Grashev still with Boonen, while Maes is another 40" behind. Still solo and ahead of Baugnies!
Boonen fighting, but losing more ground on Vanmarcke/Thomas with now just 20km to go:
Steurs suffering big time and he can't hang on anymore. He's soon to be swallowed by the bigger group with other contenders like Albert, Vandenbergh or Trentin..
The two top-favorites at the front going strong towards the finish though: 5.5km left and the leading duo is now already 1'45" ahead of Vanmarcke/Thomas! They are working pretty well together, by the way. It's not just Summerhill pacing here.
Boonen a minute behind Vanmarcke, Maes further 44 seconds. And there's no one capable of pulling a late attack here.
So Vanspeybrouck and Summerhill fighting for the victory now: Summerhill kicking the sprint off from the leading position..
..Vanspeybrouck doesn't exactly pull a sprint, but he's coming closer with the line approaching..
..they are pretty much head-to-head with just an inch to go..
..it's a photo - and a damn close one!
Summerhill takes it as narrow as possible!
Vanspeybrouck unlucky 2nd, but he went for a thrilling sprint finish here.
Two minutes later, Thomas easily outsprints Vanmarcke to complete the podium. A nice result for both, who did well to drop Boonen/Maes earlier on.
Boonen then coming in as 5th with almost three minutes on Summerhill..
Maes still solo as 6th, another minute later..
Baugnies goes past Grashev to finish 7th. A slightly disappointing result for him, who did miss the first crucial splits. A nice 8th for E3 Prijs-winner Grashev though!
Almost nine minutes behind Summerhill, the first bunch battled for the final Top-10 spots then:
Stallaert undisputed 9th ahead of Vermote and Breschel..
Sbaragli, Daniel, Trentin and Nooytens rounding up the Top-15, while Albert (16th) and especially Vandenbergh (28th) might have hoped for more.
Just 54 riders did make the time-limit: Eddie Stobart as the only team with no one finishing the race! That definitely was one hell of a race with many many cobbled kilometres, heavy crosswinds and rain (in the first half of the race)!
