Just 13 teams, but the CT elite cobblers are ready to race the K-B-K. The top favorites should be Bush, Van Keirsbulck, Drucker or Vandenbergh, but - as said in the preview - there are a few dangerous sprinters like Havik, Harrison, Rowe or Thwaites, wo can be real threats for line honours today.
The weather is good, but some heavy winds blow! Surely some additional challenge for the 103 participants.
A group of seven riders trying to escape, but it took them quite a while to finally establish a minute on the bunch. The pace back in the peloton is still pretty high and actually causes some minor splits on the first early cobbled sectors. Do some teams rate this group as a too dangerous breakaway?
Corti Schreurs Bogdanovics Barclay Lecourt De Billot Pedersen Centrone
A couple of fast guys and a few not too shabby cobblers like Schreurs or Pedersen. They ain't enjoying an easy time in the first 40kms..
..and indeed: the peloton would not allow them to stay clear and the breakaway group is caught with still 144km to go. We have quite an interesting first quarter of the race here!
With now 126km remaining, there's a second group of three riders going clear from the pack and this time, they are establishing a comfortable gap quickly:
Golas Kennett Van Aert
The trio is five minute ahead of the pack, when we see a mid-race attack occuring with still 92km to go:
Backaert launches a move and is allowed to bridge across the leading three, which he does 20km later!
Some thrilling moments for Proximus, as there's also De Vreese captured from the TV cameras now. Though, with bad news, as he hits the turf 48km before finish. The pace from the peloton is higher now, but the Belgian fights hard and would make it back to the bunch later on.
Opposing to Vanthourenhout, who also crashed a few moments before and would not make it back to the pack. Ahmad Zamri is the first rider to abandon, suffering from an earlier crash.
With the chasing teams once again raising the pace, the advantage for the escapees is down to a minute with 18km left. We have the first big split in the peloton with now just 30 riders remaining. The most notable names being dropped are:
The remaining peloton keeps chasing hard and reducing the disadvantage to just 25 seconds with 11km to go. Van Aert was the first of the escaping group trying to solo away, empty-handed. Now hoes Golas. Will he get away?
It's a short-lived attempt and all escapees are caught inside the final 7kms. We now have 34 riders in the leading group and with WCC now controlling the (very slow) pace, there's no more attempt to break clear with a late attack.
So neither Bush nor Drucker or Van Keirsbulck tried to make for a selective race on the few cobbled sectors. With a few sprinters like Rowe, Farrar and Gatto dropped, there are surely a few fast finishers amongst those 34 hoping for a big result today. Or will someone go for a late attack in the final 5kms?
Unfortunately (from a neutral spectator's view) no. A kinda "boring" race with no serious attacks but from Backaert..
And a weird finish as well: the leading group kept things easy until the final km, shadowing each other and maybe finding the best position for the bunch sprint.
Harrison unsurprisingly with the best position, as his WCC team controlled the race until this finish. He's quickly getting a gap over the bunch, with teammate Armee at the front of the group.
Havik, Drucker, Brus accelerating as well, but it ain't an easy sprint for the remaining riders. Pretty hard to overlook the whole situation there.
Thwaites trying to make his way to the front, as he didn't have a good position when the sprint kicked off.
There's also Kennett, Colon, Horton and van der Poel in the mix for a notable result.
Van Keirsbulck yet trying to somehow make his way to the front, while other guys like Vandenbergh or Grand are even further behind!
Easy win for Harrison, who leaves no questions of who was the strongest today. WCC played it smart eventually: controlling the race and waiting for a sprint with Harrison as their man for the victory. Maybe Bush didn't feel like attacking, or the team went for this tactics once some top sprinters like Rowe or Gatto/Farrar got dropped.
Brus hangs on for a strong 2nd place, while Havik completes the podium. Both should be happy with this result.
Drucker, Thwaites and Matzka on the further posistions. Thwaites with a fast finish, but he definitely slept too long when it came down to the best position for the bunch sprint.
Bush and Armee, Colon and De Vreese complete the Top-10. WCC with a great team result behind this big win from Harrison, as also Venturini (14th) had a notable result eventually.
