Welcome to South Africa to watch the coverage of the Nelspruit Classic, where most of the top puncheurs in PCT will battle for the win today
30 kms into the race and still no breakaway. Lots of riders who wants to be in the breakaway and once two riders looked like they could finally do it, again other riders attacked
Current attempt: Konte, Sirironnachai in the front, one minute behind Suryadi, Sakalou, Thompson, Antunes, Davison, Antunes, Maesen, Agnoli
Finally when the race enters the circuit, five riders are able to form the BotD
Konte Sirironnachai Davison Suryadi Antunes
We fast forward until the last 60 kms, in the descent of the third-to-last climb, with bad news, as there’s a crash involving 12 riders. Neither of them were favourites, although some riders might have a chance to finish in the top20/30.
The current gap of the breakaway is less than 3 minutes, with team like Grief, Newton and Orange working hard in the front of the bunch all day to control the race
We are now in the penultimate lap of the race, with 34 km to go. Kraftwerk and Newton are setting a really high pace in the climb, something that will surely stop anyone who thought about attacking now. In the moment that the pack crossed the finish line for the last time before the actual finish, the gap to the breakaway was less than 2 minutes for the first time
Just 20 kms for the five breakaway riders, who only have now 1’20 over the bunch. Their adventure is soon to be ended
Attack of Van Garderen! The former World Champion is using a little uphill zone to try to surprise the other favourites, seeing that no one of them are in the first places of the bunch
Under the 10-km arc, Van Garderen has already opened a 22-second gap and is catching the breakaway riders like Sirironnachai, while in the bunch it’s the very own EBH the one who is trying to reel in the American
Van Garderen has caught the remaining riders of the breakaway with 7 kms left and still holds that 25-second margin to the group, where Hagen has disappeared, and it’s now Shapira working for Roche the rider in the front
Van Garderen is finally in the front on his own, still holding a 15-second gap with 4 km to go. Hagen is back in the first places, as well as riders like Schreurs, Kwiatkowski, Anuar Aziz or Flugel
Less than 3 kms for Van Garderen and he is still managing to stay in front despite the hard work of riders like Rovny or Mehr-Wenige. Almost all the favourite are in the first 15 places, with Schreurs, Hagen, Anuar Aziz and Di Maggio a little ahead of everyone else, but other riders like Flugel, Gautier, Kwiatkowski, Reichenbach, Vogt, Caruso or Costa are still well-placed
Rovyn’s rhythm, who despite not been enough to catch Van Garderen, it’s high enough to create a chase group of only 9 riders with just 2 km to go, which includes Hagen, Schreurs, Anuar Aziz, Di Maggio, Reichenbach, Mehr-Wenige, Gautier and Flugel, while the rest of the bunch is almost half a minute behind them
Hagen is now making his move for the win 1,5 km away from the finish. Gautier and Mehr-Wenige couldn’t follow this select group anymore, leaving the win between eight riders
Under the Flamme Rouge Van Garderen is finally caught, and with Reichenbach struggling a lot to follow the others, the win is between Hagen - who is attacking again now - Schreurs, Anuar Aziz, Flugel and Di Maggio
700 metres to go for Hagen, who is opening a small gap to Van Garderen, who seems like the only one able to follow the Norwegian in the sprint, as Schreurs, Anuar Aziz, Flugel and Di Maggio have cracked
5 seconds is the gap between Hagen and Van Garderen with 400 metres left, but Van Garderen isn’t going any faster than the Norwegian, so unless Hagen cracks surprisingly, the win is his
Edvald Boasson Hagen wins the Nelspruit Classic ahead of Tejay Van Garderen!
Schreurs completes the podium, with Flugel coming behind the Dutch rider
Anuar Aziz holds both Reichenbach and Di Maggio to finish fifth today
Kwiatkowski and Caruso attacked from the group left behind with 3 km to go, and take, together with Gautier, the final places of the top10
