Welcome to The Netherlands to see the final cobbled classic of the PT(HC) calendar in 2017. As always in the cobbled classic, it’s Sam Bewley’s race to lose, but the World Champion comes from not winning the last 2 cobbled races he has raced, the ToNE stage and East Midlands Classic, where he was beaten in both by Greg van Avermaet. But the Belgian isn’t here today, so everything looks like we’ll see another win for the New Zealander
Although the day didn’t start as Bewley would have dreamt, as in the first kms of the race, 21 riders!!! broke away from the bunch, where no team tried to stop them from gaining big time before the first cobbled section, after these riders had a 3-minute gap only after 10 kms of racing
So 21 riders from 21 different riders, which leaves only Puma, Carlsberg and MOL without any rider in the breakaway. It’s too soon maybe, but we might see a breakaway win today. And from the breakaway riders, the main favourites would be Darren Young, Kuroeda and Caleb Ewan, the latter not being as good in the cobbles as the other two, but being a top sprinter in PCT, if he’s in the same group as the other riders, he’ll win the race
It’s the second time that the group crosses the finish line (they’ll have to do 5 more times) and the gap is around 6 minutes with 120 kms to go. Moser and Orange are the two teams working in the bunch, despite both having a rider in the breakaway
That’s an infortunate puncture for Pozzato in the breakaway! Still 80 kms to go, so plenty of time to recover the lost ground, while Moser has reduced the gap to less than 4 minutes
Just over 50 kms left in the race, and the gap between the breakaway and the bunch is now under 2 minutes. Some riders like Zmorka or Andersen have been dropped from the breakaway, and Young has suffered a flat, which would see the three rider getting caught within 5 kms
Ewan is taking the pace in the breakaway with 35 kms to go, but the group is only 40 seconds behind, so it’s going to be a fight between the top cobblers for the win today. There are only 75 riders left in the bunch, although no one important is missing
The breakaway was caught with 30 kms to go, but one rider didn’t want that to be the end of his adventure, as Arashiro attacked again in a cobbled section, using the time needed for Moser domestiques to reach the first places of the group
Arashiro is a powerful rider in the flat, as he proved recently taking a stage win in Colombia in a flat stage breakaway, so his move lasted a few kms, until just when there were only 20 kms left in the race, the World Champions made his first attack of the day
Senechal was the only one who could follow Bewley initially, but the French rider couldn’t keep up with his rhythm and dropped back to the group, where Ewan was working for Burghardt, while the gap was already 30 seconds
13 kms to go, and Bewley was entering the penultimate cobbled section of the day with a 28-second gap to a 40-rider group, where Aker was trying to use his big depth to catch the world champion
Interesting turning point for Aker, as Trentin looks to be working for Kristoff, instead of using his cobbled strenght to fight for the win himself, while it also looks like Bewley won’t get this done alone, and that the smartest thing to do now would be to wait to the rest of the group and sprint for the win
Saber makes the junction with less than 9 kms to go, leaving only 26 riders in the front of the race to fight for the win. Bewley surely must not have used all his energies in that attack, otherwise he’ll be facing a third straight lose in the cobbles
There was a big slowdown until the last 6 kms, when Burghardt attacked and Bewley jumped quickly on his wheel
But Wisniowski and Albert didn’t let them go anywhere, so they were back together with 5 kms to go, and again we were having a slowdown
Another move by Burghardt with 4,3 kms left! And this time Bewley isn’t following him! Instead it’s Albert, Wisniowski and Senechal!
Just 3 kms for Burghardt, who is barely opening a gap to Albert and Wisniowski! Senechal exploded and is back in the group, where Vanmarcke was working for... no one actually. This is so strange, Bewley is in the last places of the 20-men group...
This is unbelievable! I don’t know if Burghardt run out of energy, if he didn’t want to drag Albert and Wisniowski to the line, but the German has stopped with 2 kms to go and just when the final cobbled section was coming. And who’s gaining a lot of places and even attacking in that point? Yeah, ,the world champion!
No one can follow that insane acceleration, and with 1,5 kms to go, Bewley already has a 16-second gap to the group, where no one wants to work for others, it seems
600 metres left for Bewley, who is going to take another win in a cobbled classic! The gap is almost half a minute now to the group, where it looks like Blythe and Burghardt are taking the responsability
And that’s a great win for Sam Bewley in Rheden GP!!
With 500 metres left for the group, it looks like the fight for the second place is between Blythe, Saber and Gerts, with Trentin a little further behind to be a part of that battle
And Saber uses his supreme sprint skills to beat both riders for that second place, as Blythe has to settle for third. Gerts can be really happy with a fourth place here, a result that no one might have predicted. Trentin is only fifth, but it might be considered a good result remembering the leadership issues in Aker with Kristoff
In the battle for sixth place, it all came down to positioning after the cobbled section, as basically everyone stayed where they were before the final corner, with the short straight finish not allowing a proper sprint. So Vanmarcke took the sixth place, ahead of Burghardt, Thomas, Kristoff and Daniel
You can feel a lot of disappointed riders like Vanspeybrouck (12th), although Jayco won’t care too much with Saber 2nd place, or Baugnies (11th), with a not outstanding result for Ayubowan’s relegation fight, or Wisniowski/Rowe duo (14th and 20th). But most of all, Senechal only in 25th. He tried to follow Bewley in his first attack, and he paid the price for it, and also in the final kms he tried to get in Burghardt's move. Really bad day for him today
Other riders in the top20 were Ferreira in 13th, and from 15th to 20th, Sinkeldam, Zepuntke, Nolf, Albert and Lhotellerie.
And that’s all from The Netherlands! Bewley is back winning cobbled races, in what was his penultimate day in his rainbow jersey
The game crashed in the podium, so only Top50 (the point scoring positions). Anyway, around 120 riders finished the race, with the rest being outside time limit
