Welcome to Belgium for the live report of the E3 Prijs. A tough cobbled race with lots of small inclines await the riders today. The weather conditions seem to be perfect and should not affect the result. Let's get down to the racing...
A group of four riders get away but they are chased down by the pack. A couple of kilometers later, another four rider group get a gap to the peloton, once again, they are pulled back. Finally, after yet another four rider attack, the break is allowed to get away. The riders here are Haas, Kuroeda, Young and Bazzana.
Two more riders attack out of the pack. One of them doesn't make it far up the road before being brought back, but Vachon manages to stay away alone and reach the break of the day.
With 150 km to go, the peloton have safely negotiated the first cobbled section. Only one puncture to report, that of Tosic. He has made it back.
We have the first crash of the day with just under 130 km km to go. The riders involved are Gruzdev, Mandri, Phelan, Campanaerts, Raim, Acevedo, Avetisyan and Gerdeman.
A group of 39 riders are distanced with around 100 km to go. There are no favourites in this group.
More crashes! Bazzana falls alone from the break and loses contact after getting back onto his bike.
There are more crashes reported from the back of the pack but none of the big names are involved.
With 70 km to go, Evonik, Moser and RBC have taken up the pace-making. Summerhill, Van Avermaet, Bewley and Burghardt are all visible here, almost riding shoulder to shoulder. The break's lead is now 2'30".
More riders dropped now. They include the likes of Furdi, Vanderbiest, Henao and Simon Yates.
We also get reports of the first withdrawal of the day - it is Silva.
Another crash! This one could definitely have an impact on the result! The riders involved are Veelers, Mugerli, Gaudin, Altur, Hristov and (the other) Kuroeda. They are picked up by A3 group as they gingerly get back onto their bikes. They are already two and half minutes behind the peloton!
More riders dropped now. Polanc and Rowe try to get their group back to the pack. Isostar not having a good day. Other riders in this group include Taillefour and Cancellara.
Haas is the next of the break to be caught.
Kluge, Thomas, Matthews, Ferreira (PRP) and Hnik now dropped by the peloton.
34 km to go, and the break is caught by the 21 man peloton. Kuroeda was the last man standing from the break.
Just a kilometer later, the peloton splits with the pace over the short inclines. Here's how he riders are distributed:
The third and fourth groups on the road are a further 23 seconds and 53 seconds down.
(Six riders in E1)
With 28 km to go, the first two groups merge to form a 12 man lead group. Chasing them are Maes and Polanc. Lhotelleire, Polnicky and Boros are in the third group on the road.
25 km left, and the increase in pace halves the lead group. In E1 now is Bewley, Van Avermaet, Summerhill, Burghardt, Vanbilsen and Wisnowski. The others are now spread over the road in three gorups. Vanmarcke is having a bad day, as he can't even hang on to teammate Kuroeda.
Trentin tries to bridge the gap to the front group alone with 15 km to go. He makes it!
Under the 10 km banner, and the lead group has 1'30" over the next group. The winner is more or less assured to be from this group now. E2 now has Teunissen and Vanspeybrouck. Vanmarcke has made it back to his teammate Kuroeda in E3. They have Kristoff for company. Maes and Polanc still chase behind them.
Summerhill attacks shortly at the 6 km mark but can't get a gap.
Van Avermaet attacks and gets small gap with 5 km to go. But he too is brought back.
3 km to go, and now Bewley goes. Summerhill and Van Avermaet follow him closely. The others do their best to keep up.
1.5 km, Bewley goes again and the big three get a gap.
800 meters left and it is the same trio with a gap to the others.
Behind them, Vanbilsen distances the others.
At the 300 meters mark, Van Avermaet has closed the gap and is almost alonside Bewley.
But it is Bewley who holds on for the win! Van Avermaet comes home in 2nd with Summerhill 3rd. The big three really put on a show here today.
Vanbilsen maintains his gap to claim 4th place.
Burghardt is the strongest in the next group, claiming 5th, ahead of Wisnowski and Trentin.
We have to wait a bit for the next riders to come in. Kluge takes 8th place. He was unfortunately missed by our cameras! Kristoff wins the sprint for 9th. Langeveld settles for 10th.
The world champion shows he is still the cobbles specialist to beat and enjoys his win.
