The hard men of the cobbles get ready for a tough day out on the stones. Luckily, the weather is supportive of the riders as a 20km/hr wind blows which should cool everyone down.
Three riders get away at the start:
Atkins Van der Velde Juul-Jensen
Four more follow suit soon after:
Young Madhushanka Edmondson Naud
They come together with 180 km to go.
155 km left. The pack is chasing hard already. Moser and Evonik, the usual suspects, lead from the front. The pack is down to 130 riders as many riders can't keep up with the pace.
Four riders from the break are caught 10 km later. Only Young, Naud and Madhushanka left at the front now. The peloton slows down allowing some of the dropped riders to get back.
125 km left. We have crossed five cobbled sections. More riders have been dropped but the big names have stayed attentive so far.
Saber and Boev have gone down. They've just got back onto their bikes. The peloton are 2'45" ahead.
Just as Saber and Boev are about the catch the peloton, there is a bigger crash! It involves
Dupont Markus Silva Van der Hoorn de Luna
That car is way too close to the riders!
Van der Velde and Nikolaev also fall after this picture was taken, unable to avoid the machinery laying on the road.
Saber and Boev do make it back to the peloton, but the later crash victims don't.
The cameras miss Gjolberg's crash. He gets back up and joins the pack.
Stallaert has a flat.
We get news of Steensen's retirement!
70 km to go. The break leads by 2'22".
A look of what's left for the riders.
65 km. Ariesen has a flat. He joins A1.
The peloton now has 110 riders and trails the break by 2'11".
Another big fall! The riders involved are Nooytens, Trentin, Sulimov, Zhupa, Juul-jensen, Shlecter, Langeveld, De Backer, McCarthy.
Stallaert has been dropped from the pack and is back in the group of the recent crashers. Almost the entire Spotify team have dropped back to pace him.
The Stallaert group make it back to the pack 10 km later. The peloton has 102 riders and trails by 1'53".
Two retirements in quick succession - Mai and Cink.
Marzuki, Abraha, Walsleben, Verhelst, Sulimov, Juul-Jensen, Sweeck and Feng are the riders dropped next.
The break is caught with 37 km to go.
30 km. The peloton has 55 riders. The Sulimov group is more than 3' behind.
Attack! Bewely and Summerhill get away.
Baugnies, Vanseybrouck and Senechal are the others who've got a gap to the pack.
Van Avermaet is in big trouble. He's dropped from the peloton!
Vanspeybrouck and Taubel at 2'33". David at 3'18". Degenkolb at 3'33".
(Vanspeybrouck and Taubel)
(E2)
(E3)
The lead trio have slowed down, allowing the first chase group to catch them with 3.5 km left. Kristoff chases back to the front group. We're on to flat roads now, as there are no more cobbled sections left.
2.5 km. Van Avermaet attacks! No sign of the earlier weakness.
1.2 km to go for Van Avermaet as there's absolutely no response from the pack!
Maes can't keep up and is dropped. They all look to be struggling a bit as they have basically given up on the chase.
600 meters for Van Avermaet with a 24" lead. The peloton are just coming past the kilometer banner.
Van Avermaet wins!
400 meters for the next group.
Bewley hurtles through the barrier but there's no harm done. Trentin alongside.
300 meters.
Bewley
Trentin
Blythe
Vanbilsen
Nolf
Baugnies
Stallaert
100 meters. The positions remain the same.
Bewley takes 2nd palce. No five-peat for him.
Trentin just holds off Blythe for 3rd.
Vanbilsen and Nolf represent the PCT well in 5th and 6th.
Baugnies is 7th with Stallaert 8th.
Vanmarcke and Zepuntke complete the top 10.
Senechal is 11th.
Fenn is 12th.
A very tired Summerhill is 13th, ahead of Declerq.
Today's winner - Greg Van Avermaet.
In what is his final PT cobbled classic at this peak, Van Avermaet picks up a famous win. He also stops the Bewley marathon in this race, as we have a new winner for the first time in 5 years! The three man lead group of Bewley, Baugnies and Summerhill looked to be favourites for the win coming into the last 10 kilometers. Also, Van Avermaet looked to be in trouble in the late cobbles. How the tables turned at the end! Only 119 finishers!
