Welcome to the inaugural U23 Sprinter's Classic. Run on the prestigious course of Paris-Tours, we should see a bunch sprint finish as the name suggests. However, as always with this route the undulations and length could see some finniseurs or breakaway riders stealing the day. The major favourite here is, of course, Caleb Ewan, the young Aussie fastman. Other big names include the dangerous German duo of Bauhaus and Wilwohl, both riding for Puma.
It takes a long time for the peloton to accept a breakaway, but the composition that does the trick is of: Turchi Mas and Arifin.
A lot of teams sharing the pacemaking and keeping the escapees on a nice leash. Podium Ambition, Puma, Ayubowan! and Lierse all have a couple of riders sharing the pace. Also note Statoil not doing much work but maintaining a big presence 10-15 riders back. Schomber isn't great but is probably their best sprint hope, but I think we could see the likes of Eiking or Katrasnik have a go for them.
Quite a big crash here, the biggest names involved are Kennett, Pedersen and Baska. Luckily all of them aren't too injured and make it back to the peloton.
100km and the breakaway has a gap of 5'14
90km and 4'54
80km and 4'23
70km and 3'49
60km and 3'19
50km and 2'52
40km and 2'12.
An interesting move here from Mullen with 38km to go the Irish rider attacks the peloton.
He bridges to the breakaway but all four are caught with 24km left.
Now it's Yzeiraj on the move with 16km left. Behind Goldstein and Quicibal try to respond.
However only the Albanian gets a gap. Meanwhile Baska has been dropped from the peloton along with some more, less favoured riders. Maybe struggling with injury from the crash earlier?
Plenty of sprinters struggling with the pace - including Wilwohl, Silva, Planckaert, Mareczko and Nommela. Not good for the Balkan team as Baska and now Nommela won't be there for the sprint.
10km to go and the catch is made, we should see a sprint.
With just 5 kilometres remaining Nych spies an opportunity to get one over the disorganised peloton and attacks.
3km to go, the Russian has 25 seconds on the still disorganised bunch! It's Katrasnik on the front now for Statoil whilst many of the premium sprinters are still 20 wheels back, including Ewan and Kemboi!
Katrasnik, Krigbaum, Eiking, Quicibal and Herklotz are near the front, whilst Bauhas and Bohli are probably the best placed sprinters. Per, Andersen, Mohoric, Daniel and Oomen are just behind them. Still Ewan a wee way behind them (but with a line to the front) and Kemboi and Gaviria nowhere to be found!
1.5km left for Nych, can he make it?
Kennett with a massive acceleration the first to launch from the peloton whilst Ewan tucks in behind the Isostar trio.
Nych tiring now under the flamme rouge with 900m to go as the peloton start their sprints - Kennett with a headstart is leading next to Eiking but can he keep it up over his fresher rivals?
Ewan and Gaviria on either side are going incredibly fast whilst Kennett passes Nych. 500m - can the Kiwi hold on? Bauhaus next to Gaviria also looking good.
300m and Ewan looks the fastest here as Eiking and Quicibal fade. Gaviria can't match the Aussie but has an edge on Bauhaus. For fifth it looks like Kemboi vs Andersen vs Per. Nych isn't too far behind but is about to be passed by a line of riders and won't get a top 10.
100m to go and Kennett is slowing significantly as Ewan still is a missile along the tarmac. Who will win the battle for the U23 sprinter's crown - and trans-Tasman supremacy?
We'll need a photo finish here - Kennett thinks he's edged it but Ewan looked to be pretty level - certainly going faster as he overtakes the Kiwi here. Apparently Bauhaus has overhauled Gaviria for third.
Kemboi will be fifth whilst Contreras rides the Kenyan's wheel to pip Per for sixth. Andersen is seventh ahead of two puncheurs in another freeloader van der Poel and Mohoric following his teammate. Yzeiraj surprisingly almost cracks the top 10 after his late attack.
The jury are happy now to award the win to the Kiwi - a lovely shot ruined by our TV overlay here of his pilot Novardianto celebrating his win. A very disorganised finale, with Nych almost stealing the win, Statoil ripping the race open for no discernible reason, Kennett taking advantage of the confusion with a long sprint and a Trans-Tasman photo finish.
