The inaugural edition of the Lillestrom GP is set to begin. The winds blows at 25-30kmh and 66.6km of cobbles await the 185-men-peloton. It's flat as flat can be. But it's a tough challenge nevertheless.
Bush, Van Keirsbulck and Drucker as the top favorites for the podium, with some more guys like Vandenbergh, Grand or Thwaites hoping to be as good as contenders can be.
It did not take too long for a breakaway group to be formed. Four riders go clear early into the stage and they enter the first cobbled sector (about 20km into the race) with a three minutes gap on the peloton:
Paluta Angarita Stash Fisher
The race settles settles down quickly, but the tough cobbled sector leads to a countless number of punctures and also a few crashes in the first half of the race. Many many riders have problems with their equipement, but fortunatelly, there's no real big gun with any incident yet:
Van Emden as one of those with a puncture. Dylan Kennett, Alain Quispe, Daniele Ratto as well.
Marentes as the first to crash, but a next crash is certainly bigger news:
Punctures? Well, here you go: Cedric Lebris, Michael Vanthourenhout, Sebastian Salas, Kamil Dradek. A few guys are already abandoning from the race: Maxime Le Montagner, Richard Laningo Laizer.
Good news for Farrar/Hamilton and Corwin, as they all make it back to the pack quickly. Which wasn't given, since the peloton started to chase down the early break. It's a fast race again and the cobbles keep doing the damage: 55km to go and teams like Philips, WCC and Goldcorp are leading the pack, which is reduced to only 84 riders in the meantime.
The early break as already been swallowed! The top teams are really taking control of things here:
Matzka, Per and Leezer working for Philips Armee and Venturini for WCC
31km to go and the big names already show themselves at the very front of the pack now! The domestiques have done their work and with the tough cobbled sector and crosswinds at 30kmh making for a challenging race, the peloton has been shrunked to 45 riders now:
Bush Van Keirsbulck Drucker
the first three riders in the front! It smells like an early attack now.. and many many riders do suffer from the high pace already.
And here we go:
Bush is the first favorite to make his move with 27km to go!
Drucker jumps behind!
Goldcorp still with some support for Van Keirsbulck and they are trying to shut down the attack.
Lebris and Hamilton providing some great support now and they indeed shut down the first big moves. 25km before finish, Bush/Drucker are reeled in again, but the latest moves made for another selection in the front group:
25 riders left in the main group!
Verbist as the biggest name being dropped, as he now can't follow the pace anymore!
Vanthourenhout and Gatto as other notable names being dropped a few moments before.
Bush and Drucker go again! 21km to go, next cobbles sector (the penultimate) ahead:
Vandenbergh Grand Thwaites as the first to follow!
Fouquet Flaksis Lindeman Havik with a next wave of attacks!
Goldcorp still with Hamilton/Lebris to support their captain, who hasn't reacted yet. Will they again bring those attacks back?
Not quite yet, but there's no need to panic for Van Keirsbulck, as he has made the next selection! 17km to go and Bush/Drucker again couldn't get away from the leading group, that is now down to just 12 riders:
Drucker Bush Lindeman Thwaites Havik Fouquet Flaksis Van Keirsbulck Lebris Vandenbergh Grand Schoonbroodt
A next group with 11 riders is already 45" in arrears, so it's pretty clear, that it will come down to this new leading group eventually. Let's have a look, who will battle for a Top-15/20 result:
Aulas Marcato Gaday Backaert Visconti Takenouchi Hamilton Wyss De Vocht De Vreese Horton
11.5km remaining and here we go again with the same business:
Bush with his third attack!
Drucker again following immediately and also all the other guys in the group look well aware of the situation. Will Bush finally succeed?
Nope! The strongest of the day could follow his acceleration, as they now hit the final cobbled sector: 7km remaining and the leading group is down to 5 riders with the latest moves again causing a split!
Van Keirsbulck now at the front for the first time Bush Lindeman Drucker Thwaites
33" behind, another group of five:
Vandenbergh Grand Havik Schoonbroodt Fouquet
Flaksis another 49" behind this group then!
Drucker crashes on the final cobbles sector, 5.9km before finish! The worst moment to go down and he will obviously got dropped from the leading group that way. Tough luck!
One of the most active riders so far, Drucker now finds himself somewhere in between the leading group and the next chasing group. Horrible crash, but he's at least looking fine to get back on the bike and maybe fight for a Top-10 result.
5.7km to go and Van Keirsbulck takes over the pace! He's playing it calm so far - and smart, obviously - as he's now dropping Lindemann and Thwaites easily!
Bush trying to hang on, but he's surely in the worse position after his three attacks so far..
Thwaites can't follow, but he's 24" ahead of Lindeman..
A group with 5 riders is 17" behind Lindeman: Grand, Vandenbergh, Fouquet, Havik, Schoonbroodt
So Drucker couldn't join this group, as he's more than a minute behind with Flaksis at his side!
Van Keirsbulck drops Bush! 4.4km to go, just when the cobbles end. Only a miracle would prevent him from losing this race, as Bush is 24 seconds behind quickly!
And the gap is growing: 35" lead for Van Keirsbulck with just 3km to go! Bush only 12 seconds ahead of Thwaites, who's dead empty though. With Lindeman still further 17" behind, he's on a good way to a strong podium finish!
Group Vandenbergh is down to 4 riders, as Schoonbroodt got dropped. They are about 11 seconds behind Lindeman now.
Van Keirsbulck celebrates his victory! What a strong performance from the favorite this was. With Bush and Drucker attacking three times, he could rely on some strong working domestiques and played it smart until the final cobbles sector. An undisputed winner, who easily dropped Bush in the crucial moments. Well done.
Bush crosses the line as 2nd almost a minute later. He simply had nothing left to respond, but it's of course a good result anyway.
The same goes for Thwaites, who finishes close behind Bush. No chance for him to attack Bush in the final "sprint", but he should be happy with a podium in this tough classic nevertheless.
And now for the fight for 4th place: Lindeman still ahead of group Vandenbergh, but he's suffering from his efforts!
Havik unsuprisingly with a fast sprint there. Grand, Vandenbergh and Fouquet probaly won't matchi his speed..
..yap, indeed: Havik goes past Lindeman to finish 4th. Lindeman though goes 5th, which is a strong result with his teammate Fouquet completing a great result for the team as 7th eventually!
Grand goes 6th and Vandenbergh has to settle for 8th.
Schoonbroodt coming in as 9th, more than two minutes behind today's winner.
Flaksis dropped Drucker to complete the Top-10!
An unlucky Drucker finishes narrowly ahead of a group with 11 riders. He definitely suffered from this unlucky crash. There's no question, that he would have been a Top-5 contender at least.
Lebris, Aulas, Marcato and Horton completing the Top-15 ahead of Takenouchi, Gaday, Wyss, De Vocht, Hamilton, De Vreese and Visconti.
A pretty action packed and interesting first edition of the Lillestrom GP. The high pace made for a truly challenging day and only 89 of 185 riders managed to finish within the time limit eventually. Many punctures and a few crashes added some drama. Drucker obviously as the biggest crash victim. It can't be said enough.
