The Ronde Van Vlaanderen is on of the hardest races on the calendar. ~18km of cobbles and lots of steep hills plus a classic length of 255km.
Sam Bewley is the dominator in those kind of races but will have tough opponents here such as Van Avermaet, Burghardt, Blythe or PCT cobblers Summerhill/Vanbilsen and many more.
Early on a big breakaway of 18 riders around van Zyl, Nordhaug, Keukeleire or Zubov tried their luck. And while the gap was at almost 2min at one point, the peloton led by Orange, Pendleton`s, Becherovka and I-Gen mainly were able to bring them back with 200km to go!
They were a lot more happy with only 2 riders in the attack. Both were already part of the earlier attempt. Laizer Del Nero
The first cobbles are reached and it`s a mix of Orange, Evonik and Becherovka in the front rows. Almost 6min for the duo but with 140km remaining everything under control.
Then also a first crash on the paves. A few decent cobblers on the ground next to a few others: Sinkeldam Wisniowski Nooytens Hnik Polanc Van Asbroeck
All of them make it back into the peloton again though before the first cobbled hills start. Becherovka for Bewley lead them over those even though they had 2 riders down in the crash. Polnicky, Boros and Stybar ahead of Bewley and all the other top cobblers.
The high pace led to a first selection of just 16 riders! Senechal Burghardt Bewley Stybar Boros Polnicky Vanbilsen Kamyshev Summerhill Blythe Vanspeybrouck Boeckmans Keukeleire Van Avermaet Smirnovs Nolf
A bit behind them a trio containing Vanmarcke Schlechter Rowe
and a quintett: Trentin Steurs Verbist Weber Boev
Though the pace was not high enough in the favourite group and so it`s up to 95 riders again a bit later. Also the breakaway is caught!
Obviously good news for the likes of Movistar, Aegon, Aker, eBuddy, Pokerstars or Tinkoff who missed the move.
But just a few cobbles and hills later the next selection. This time 26 riders in front.
Take the 16 from last time with the addition of Vanmarcke, Schlechter, Trentin, Gusev, Rowe, Verbist, Daniel or Altur.
In the next group of also 26 main riders are Kluge, Boom, Stallaert, David, Kristoff, Veelers, Vandenbergh or Thwaites.
Quite a few manager to bridge the gap though and we see Kluge, David, Kristoff, Breen, Sbaragli, Lampaert to join the first group a bit later.
42km left and this is a decent range to attack for the big favourites. Bewley Van Avermaet Vanspeybrouck
This is a powerful move and needs partnership behind to bring them back.
Biggest rider, who is dropped from the favourite group of just 10 riders is Vanmarcke.
Left in the first chasing group are: Burghardt Blythe Daniel Boros Summerhill Senechal Kamyshev Vanbilsen Trentin Nolf
Then behind the Vanmarcke/Verbist duo a group containing: Gusev David Kluge Rowe Meersman Weber
Nolf and Boros were the next to be dropped as Burghardt/Senechal/Blythe cooperated well together.
So the gap to the trio in front became smaller.
But in especially on the flat parts the gap widened again and made it hard for the group behind to bridge.
Burghardt and Senechal prove strongest and gap the others trying on their own.
Fruther behind Kristoff and David join Nolf/Boros and Verbist after Vanmarcke was also not able to follow those. Bad day for the Vesuvio leader today, who is soon to be caught by the Kluge/Gusev/Rowe group.
The Muur van Geraardsbergen often decides the Ronde and also today a already selected group takes one of the last climbs of the race. Bewley and Van Avermaet do the most work while Vanspeybrouck is mainly sitting behind them in 3rd position. He surely knows that sprint wise he needs to save energy against the other two.
But it`s not just saving energy. He clearly was not as strong as them as he is dropped at the top. Can he come back? Or will he even be caught by the next duo?
Further behind Puma with the advantage of having two riders. But none of them seems to be strong enough to really attack. Plus they are both good sprinters and might play this card instead. But then it would be for 6th only!
It`S about 50:50 sharing of the first two and this is also needed with 12km to go after the final cobbled section as Vanspeybrouck is still not far behind them. 26s only while Burghardt/Senechal have another 35s!
But the duo in front prove the strongest in the 2016 classics and have almost 1min gap with 2km to go. Van Avermaet in the first position now and Bewley won`t take this position surely now in the sprint preperation.
Burghardt/Senechal almost as strong a duo but a bit further behind. Though they haven`t given up on the podium yet and see Vanspeybrouck not far ahead.
No danger will come from behind as the top5 are settled. Just the order has to be decided.
Under the Flamme Rouge we see the start of the sprint as Bewley tries to go past Van Avermaet.
Well. Not really trying. He is passing him easily!
And so the Kiwi takes yet another brilliant monument win and the 2nd in the Ronde after his last year`s debut.
Van Avermaet though also with a fantastic result for the Evonik team and it`s not a big surprise at this time of the year to see those two teams fighting for the PT crown. Though the season is still long and the GTs will change a lot still.
Vanspeybrouck delivers the podium to the home team Bpost. He fought hard to save this spot and successfuly did it. Senechal just seconds behind wins the sprint against Bughardt to complete the top5!
As expected Puma saved the energy for the sprint. Their only real threat was Trentin in this group and it even looked like they would lose the duel against him. Though in the end Blythe with the most energy ahead of Trentin and his team mate. So not the very best individual result for Puma but two in the top8 is surely also good.
Vanbilsen, Summerhill complete the top10 for the wildcard teams while Kamyshev is not the best sprinter and comes in last from this group.
Almost 2min later Kristoff sprints for 12th and beats David, Boros, Breen and Weber. Some surprising names up there in this group.
Kluge then as first of the next group where Nolf and Vanmarcke are biggest disappointments.
The list of DNF today is not too long. 14 riders won`t score the minimum points for their teams!
