The division's premium puncheurs and climbers are ready to go. Will van der Hugenhaben deliver on a course, that should suit him? And how will Xero do in front of their home crowd?
Pretty challenging conditions with crosswinds changing from zero to sixty. It's all made up for a big race today.
The break of the day is quickly formed, as four riders are allowed to establish a bigger gap early into the race:
Kaislavuo Flaksis Takenouchi Frankiny
The group builds a lead up to 8 minutes until the peloton starts to chase halfway through the race.
van der Poel is involved in a crash and has to abandon the race, while the whole pack is alltogether after the first few climbs here.
Azteca, In-n-Out as the most active teams in the chase and now that we make a huge jump into the final 18km of the race, it's a few other teams joining the work.
Schoonbroodt leading the bunch for Reddit and also WCC and Xero are showing their colors quite prominent now.
The breakaway went into pieces on the most challenging climbs just a few moments before, we only have Takenouchi and Frankiny left in the lead, holding on to a 55" gap at this point.
12km remaining and we're on the penultimate climb: Frankiny gives it a last attempt to stay clear from the nearing peloton (146 riders), but the gap is melting down to 20 seconds now!
We notice some action at the front off the pack now, let's have a look at this..
Roux and Marentes launch an attack 12km before finish! WCC still strong in numbers to control the thing, with also In-n-Out immediately trying to shut down this dangerous move from Roux!
And it's an short-lived attempt from Roux, as Marentes and the other teams pulled him back quickly. Frankiny taking advantage of the situation and growing his gap back to half a minute, while Takenouchi has been swallowed, losing ground quickly.
But the action is still on, with Bennett now initiating another attack for Xero, 9km to go!
Vichot, Rodriguez Galindo and again a strong looking Marentes react. There's a tiny gap on the pack, but they've reached the hilltop already..
..and again: no luck for Xero, as the main group is back together just a few moments later. Rodriguez Galino leads the pack down the final descent with about 5km to go and also Frankiny has finally been caught now. The race settles down for a few minutes..
..but here we go again:
Boily, Monfort and Roux attack with 2.7km left!
Marentes and Chaves also accelerating, just like a few other favorites like Bennett again. Those will certainly be decisive moves now!
2km to go and Boily still ahead of Monfort and Roux.
Bennett Wyss van der Hugenhaben Bratashcuk
right behind Roux, while Chaves/Marentes struggle to follow! Behind those seven there's a fight about the perfect position for the final sprint, but Boily's group surely looks promising now!
And there's some notable gaps now with just 1.2km to go!
Boily Monfort Roux Bennett
+ 0.15 a group with 8 riders
Marentes van der Hugenhaben Hollenstein Wyss Pellaud Vichot Bratashcuk Chaves
+ 0.26 a group with 63 riders
including favorites like Grippo, Gilbert or Khripta!
Marentes obviously in great shape and Azteca lets him attack while Chaves is at the back of the first chasing group. Van der Hugenhaben now also attacking to bridge the gap to group Boily/Roux!
Final corner and Boily kicked off the sprint from the leading position, with still the same order behind him!
Van der Hugenhaben as the only one in the second group managing to get away, but he's not yet caught up to Boily's group. Marentes couldn't follow, but he's still at the front of group Chaves/Pellaud..
Let's have a look back to this group: Marentes vs Hollenstein/Vichot, but there's also a strong going Wyss trying to hang on. Chaves seems to struggle, but at least there's a clear gap to the next bigger group..
Back to the front, where we will see a thrilling sprint for line honours:
Boily probably won't take it, as the other three are closing up now! Bennett as the fastest, now going past Roux on the right side of the road!
Van der Hugenhaben has almost caught up, but this may be too late for the victory..
..indeed, as Bennett had the perfect finish to beat his opponents by more than a bike length eventually! Xero with a special victory (they couldn't have imagined a better scenario for today's race, could they?) and the home crowd goes crazy with one of their country's best cyclists taking a prestigious victory. Simply fantastic race for Bennett and his team.
Boily managed to lung in for a strong 2nd place ahead of Monfort and Roux! A tight decision. They will probably happy with those results, even though it's always tough to miss out on a win so close. Roux completing the perfect result for Xero. He's clearly been one of today's most aggressive favorites, just like Bennett.
van der Hugenhaben came close, but has to settle for a solid 5th place. He clearly missed that decisive on first hand, but did well to fight his way back eventually.
A super strong Marentes recovered well to easily drop Hollenstein and Vichot, as they finish 25 seconds behind Bennett.
Wyss and Pellaud complete the Top-10 ahead of Bratashcuk and Chaves. The latter did not really look to good on this final climb (at least once the decisive split occured), but Azteca will be happy enough for Marentes to make a Top-6 result anyway..
Hugentobler easily wins the sprint of the next bigger group, where Gilbert and Taborre round up the Top-15 ahead of Grippo.
Probably one of George Bennett's most special victories in his career: celebrating in front of your home crowd. The team definitely played it smart and extraordinary strong today.
