One of the shortest races on the calendar is the late Algerian flat classic around Oran. Most of the top sprinters meet up for a great battle on the calm day. WIthout Lo Cicero surely the favourite is Ahlstrand. Will he disappoint once more?
Going through the finishing line we see that the hill of the race is pretty steep, that might shock some sprinter. Surely we'll have a messy sprint preperation then, and both hill and downhill stat could have a major influence on the finish.
The first 30 kilometers it's the fight for the break of the day, but with 100 to go finally a group of 4 has gone clear:
De Vos Adamou Grippo Teklit
100 km - 2'00
90 km - 3'00
Arrinera, Novatek, Coldeportes, Porto, Wiesenhof, Netia, Hugo Boss & Spotify sharing the work. Already the likes of Ventoso and Kvist doing so for some reason.
80 km - 4'00
70 km - 3'30
Van Poppel as well now, Spotify again burning their sprint train stupidly far too early.
60 km - 3'00
50 km - 3'00
40 km - 2'30
30 km - 1'40
25 km - 1'30
A move by...
... Lebris, Joseph and Tolleson, but only the latest of those succeeds. His effort is gone 1 kilometer later though by the strong duo of Kovalev and Postlberger.
20 km - 1'10
The american is not done yet though and...
...kicks again, this time pulling out an advantage. The peloton with strange pacing here.
17 km
Break
Tolleson + 45
Peloton + 1'30
15 km - 1'00
You have to give credit to Kruopis for his great pacing here!
10 km - '40
This is possible for the break. At least...
...the great work by Ferreira, Kruopis and Vermote brought the group back.
7 km - '35
Can they hold on? 5 kilometer and 28 seconds. Nobody is helping Ferreira, so...
... Kuznetsov makes his move with only 4.6 kilometers to go. Can he bridge the gap?
Yes! He got them with 3 to go. Behind him though a wild chase by Oliveira, who really has it in him. So far only one stable train, which is Archbold and Schorn for Zabel.
Several teams trying to...
...take that train to make their best sprinter a wagon of it. So far it's Guerao though in the perfect wheel ahead of Kump. Then one long line of favourites:
Granjel Cabrera Ahlstrand Vantomme Nelson Serebriakov Impey Thorsen Richeze
Interestingly no sign of Haussler, Castañeda, Van Asbroeck and Van der Sande, despite especially 3 of those should initially like these type of conditions.
Netia look like they'd fancy a train or something that pretends to be one with Franczak, Bernas and Sobota. On the right Porto formed one, having Oliveira and Caldeira (who looks empty though) for Avelino. Bouhanni on his wheel.
1.5 kilometer and...
...still the Russian leading! Behind Avelino has lighted it up but doesn't look too strong upilll. Much better pace from Schorn for Zabel, who is in the prime position as Guerao is in trouble. Kump though keeps sitting on his wheel, which brings others back in contension.
Final kilometer. Zabel...
...in big trouble. He completely fails to keep the slipstream of Schorn, who has gone for glory streaming past brave Kuznetsov. Will this be a big upset?
500 meters...
...and he is still leading. Though a surprise for the Austrian doesn't look too likely, as Guerao comes up strong. Of the fast men up ther surprisingly Kump is the one fading now.
250 meters
Schorn is done. Instead Guerao leads, but the fastest in terms of speed currently is Nelson. Still fast and very good placed currently are Granjel Cabrera and Zabel. Dead men live longer...
100 meter and now...
... Guerao is done. Zabel, Granjel Cabrera or Nelson to win?
It is...
... Raul Granjel Cabrera taking a big win to possibly prevent his team from relegating. Zabel and CT star Nelson the other guys on the podium.
Minor places for Ahlstrand with yet another failed sprint attempt and Kump, who surely could've used the hill better. The top 10 is rounded by Guerao, Avelino, Vantomme, Impey and Serebriakov.
But let's now take a step back to celebrate with today's big winner:
Raúl Granjel Cabrera of Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo!
Algeria 
