Clear skies and brilliant sun means many spectators out and a great atmosphere for today’s race! Where the riders will take on some 179km with tough cobbled sectors.
By the end of the second lap we see two men out for the TV time today. Christie and Mraouni are ahead of the peloton with a 2 minute lead.
In a surprising move, Steensen and Eising try to bridge across to the front, where Mraouni has dropped Christie. These two riders come from team’s who’s escapes aren’t going to be taken likely prompting the peloton to speed up, with Podium Ambition and Isostar at the helm.
Turns out the peloton is moving too fast though, as we get word of former winner De Haes hitting the deck! Turgot is down too, but plenty of Chiquita riders come to bring them back.
After a frantic start, the peloton finally pulls back the two later attackers and takes a breather after 40km of racing, leaving Mraouni as the sole man in front today, sticking it out for his leader, Bush.
Kurth doesn’t quite miss a piece of road furniture and ends up on the ground, a brigade of black-tied riders bring him back to the front, making much better work of it than Chiquita, who return to pack a few minutes later, despite their incident occurring 50km beforehand.
Fast-Forward to 30km to go, Drucker sees the opportunity and accelerates from the pack, sweeping up Mraouni in the process. Thomas himself moves to the front to attempt to close down this manoeuvre.
The attack doesn’t last long though, as Bush sees his teammates out of it and puts in his own move, right past the Luxembourg rider. Drucker mustn’t have given it all however as he still has the energy to chase. Stringing out the pack but finally closing down the attack.
Bush puts in another attack, Drucker is glued to his wheel this time, while Thomas is once again the man on the front chasing, despite having a selection of teammates at the front.
The attack is caught however with 20km or 3 laps left to race, the catch is mostly down to their inability to cooperate properly with Drucker refusing to take his turn than any proper cohesion in the chase.
What a surprise, Bush goes again! Once again Drucker is leading the chase, this time however Thomas manages to get behind Drucker and pull the entire peloton back together once again. Still 34 riders in here with 10km to race!
Final lap, which means just 6 more kilometres to decide this race! Drucker puts in another move, Thomas is behind him this time, so is De Haes!
Carlsberg has been patient so far, but they realise this isn’t the move to miss! Østergaard brings Boonen and De Maar across at the last minute, giving them a serious numbers advantage, Bush and Lindeman tag along too.
Kraftwerk chases hard though and once again the pack is back together with 3.4km left!
Nobody has the energy for another attack, that or they choose to save it for the sprint, as Podium Ambition takes control of the pack, leading us under the flamme, rouge, as the situation is as follows:
Grashev
Hristov
Bridges
Giaux
Rathe
Thomas
Lee
Drucker
Walsleben
De Haes
Naesen
Boonen
Ariesen
Kurth
Turgot
Ingels
De Maar
Lindeman
Bush
Østergaard
With 500 metres to go we begin to get a view of who still has something left in the legs, Thomas takes the lead despite his three teammates dropping back, De Haes and Turgot on his wheel are moving faster however! Giaux has disappeared too, While on the other side of the road, De Maar, Lee and Lindeman are accelerating quick, but have a lot of ground to make up!
200 metres left and it looks like all the podium places are called for! Thomas is still holding off the others but they’re gaining on him, as De Haes and Turgot are up against the barriers!
Gerraint Thomas wins the Cigar City Brewing Twilight Classic! Excellent racing by the Brit and his team! De Haes and Turgot take 2nd place to the line in a matter of millimetres, but the Belgian barely manages to top the Frenchman. Lee manages 4th place with a good sprint,beating out Lindeman, who only just manages to keep his top 5, as he sits up to early and Drucker’s makes a dive for it.
De Maar and his teammate Boonen take 7th and 8th place, despite the latter being fancied in a sprint. While Grashev and Bush manage to finish off the top 10.
