The 2018 season is about to begin and the traditional Down Under Classic is the first race for the PCT's teams. The HC race is an important event for particularly the sprinters and with Guerao, Lo Cicero and Mohs, we have three former race winners at the start. The very top favorite should be Degenkolb though and also local favorite Ewan, as well as Cavendish should be considered the most promising contenders beside the already mentioned riders.
Several more possible contenders will try to fool Degenkolb and his Iberia squad and of course there's also a chance for an aggressive late attack to fool all the sprinters - just like it happened in 2015, when Dzamastagic took the race ahead of Baugnies, who's at the start again this year. Let the show begin.
Crosswinds with some surprisingly dark clowds make for an extra challenge today: the wind blows as 39kmh and a few roleurs may actually love this fact.
The first attack of the season comes from Azteca: Tivani goes right from the start!
He's quickly joined by Christensen and Petrus - the trio builds a 1'21" gap just 9km into the race. The peloton seems to let them stay clear.
Three more riders though tried to follow on this first breakaway group and the second trio catches up to the first with now 56km to go and the peloton being two minutes in arrears. We've found the break of the day. The three additional escapees are:
Walsleben Castrillo Nonaka
The gap never grows bigger though, as some teams in the peloton ain't interested to allow a bigger advantage in such a short race: with now 38km to go, the chasing teams actually already pulled the breakaway group back! Will we see a quiet race from now on? Still quite a way to go, obviously:
David, Postlberger and Brändle pulling the strings hard for SPAR Aulas doing the work for Carrefour Brockhoff joining the early chasers for Iberia Burghardt showing, that also Podium Ambition will do some work today!
It's Carrefour taking over the main job of setting the pace then and with now 21km remaining, there's no more attack and teams like Fablok, Podium and Iberia or Kraftwerk are showing their colours behind Carrefour's working trio:
Schorn, Li and Giaux
The steady pace and the crosswinds (42kmh at this point) are causing a first split in the pack now, with just 144 riders left in the main group and a bigger group being dropped from the pace:
Meyer maybe as the most notable sprinter being on the wrong side of the split. While could not be considered a real contender for his home race, Team Reddit certainly should have hoped for at least a Top-20 result today. Which won't happen anymore.
A few other (leadout) sprinters are caught behind, too: Krieger and Vingerling amongst those, who won't be of any help for their leaders here.
The pace keepers would further destroy the pack by reducing the peloton to just 122 riders on the next few laps. But there's no attacks until the final lap..
4.4km remaining and yes, it is happening again! Some roleurs are trying to go clear very late into the race:
Baugnies Ji Arashiro go first..
Hermans quickly jumps behind!
That's obviously a dangerous move for those teams, who are working for their sprinters and Baugnies apparently still remembers, what he did back in 2015! Will he and his breakaway companions once again manage to stay clear until the end?
Well, it won't be easy today: 1.8km to go now and the four riders couldn't really establish a notable gap on the peloton!
Ji is giving it another go and there's certainly some confusion at the front of the peloton, where only Iberia managed to build some kind of a train..
Merino Criado and Van der Sanden as those two working for Degenkolb.. and it's a good working train, as they are pulling the late attackers back. Will Ji stay clear though?
Nope, he doesn't! Just like Baugnies and the other two, also Ji is caught by the pack - just inside the final kilometre of the race!
As said before, the sprint picture is rather messy and with Iberia's duo giving it all to pull back the escapees, there's no more leadout for Degenkolb or any other sprinter here. It's simply about the best legs and of course the best position after this rather chaotic final few kilometres of the race and a former race winner apparently did well to get himself into a premium position at the very front of the field:
Mohs with Van Asbroeck right at his wheel!
Saber next and with a small advantage on the next guys..
Degenkolb actually not in a bad position with Merino Criado now falling behind..
Petit, Ji and Roelandts
Holloway and Cavendish
Ewan a bit further behind..
Granjel Cabrera, Bonifazio, Hermans and Goss
Kragh Andersen, Van der Sanden and Guardini
Guerao, Bouhanni and Arashiro then..
Ignatiev not far behind those..
Vantomme alongside Baugnies and a struggling Nelson..
Lo Cicero shockingly far behind an with no chance to be a factor today. Carrefour worked hard for the second half of the race, but at least there's his teammate Petit up the front, as things stand now.. still a disappointing showing from the former race winner..
Back to the front though, where Mohs is still ahead of Van Asbroeck, coming off a tricky corner.. just 700metres to go now!
Saber going strong to keep the position, Degenkolb is fighting to catch up to Van Asbroeck's wheel! Roelandts looking good so far..
Ji is losing ground, as to be expected and also Petit does not seem to keep the pace of today's best - he's falling behind qickly!
Cavendish and Ewan still behind Roelandts, yet in the mix, obviously!
The riders enter the short finishing stretch and it's looking really good for Mohs and Van Asbroeck, as there's no one really capable to close the small gap!
Saber still fighting and he hangs on to keep a third position yet..
Behind him, there's Roelandts, Holloway, Degekolb, Ewan and Cavendish fighting for maybe the last podium spot. They are lacking the speed to be of any danger for the leading duo, it seems. But there are going for a thrilling sprint decision anyway..
Goss next in the line, but there's a clear gap and he will fight for a minor Top-10 placing with a strong Bonifazio not far behind! Guardini at his wheel then..
Just a couple of hundred meters to go and Mohs still maintains the leading position! Van Asbroeck is trying, he really is.. and it seems like he finally sees a chance to leave Mohs' wheel now!
..yet he struggles to go past him!
Saber still on third position: still not making up any ground on the duo ahead, but still with a small advantage on those five riders behind him:
Roelandts looking good with now Ewan and Degenkolb as the fastest behind him! Holloway still there, but Cavendish heavily struggles now!
And now Van Asbroeck cracks! No chance anymore, he's losing the premium wheel of Mohs, who's sprinting towards his second victory here in Melbourne!
Saber in danger to lose his podium spot: Ewan and Roelandts now very close behind him and it's kinda surprising to see Degenkolb struggling to keep the pace of this duo..
Cavendish is done and there's Goss/Guardini moving forward to at least go past Cav! Bonifazio with a good gap on Ignatiev, who's going strong past Kragh Andersen and a disappointing Guerao!
Mohs raises his arms and it's been a dominating victory for the German! His second win at the Down Under Classic, with his first happening back in 2010! A great way to kick off his probably last season as a premium sprinter. Experience definitely a factor today, as Mohs simply had the best position when the sprint went up from a messy picture: but credit where credit is due - Mohs did really well to keep his leading position over the entire final kilometre!
Van Asbroeck crosses the line as 2nd then: certainly a very strong result for him and given the profile of the race, this must be considered quite an upsetting runner-up ahead of some big names in the sprinters' scene. Well done, he certainly picked the right wheel today.
An unlucky finish for Saber then, as he couldn't hold on to this third position, he was going for so long:
Ewan had the fastest finish to go past Saber on the final metres and grab a decent 3rd place on home soil. The early position wasn't that good though, so it might have been possible to win this race, if he hadn't been too far behind Mohs at the flamme rouge. Still a podium, which ain't too bad for the first HC event of the season, right?
Roelandts with a stunning 4th place then! The aging sprinter played his experience to perfection and should be more than happy with a result like this..
The same should count for Saber, who finishes 5th in his first race for Philips. A bit unlucky to lose a podium finish so close, but a Top-5 here is definitely a nice result.
Degenkolb though won't be happy to finish 6th ahead of Holloway! While his two leadouts did well to catch the late attackers, it made for a not proberly working leadout. It must be said though, that Degenkolb entered the final kilometre in quite a good position - he just couldn't close up to Van Asbroeck and lost the fight for a Top-5 eventually..
Goss comes in 8th ahead of Guardini and Bonifazio, who completes a great result for Lierse SK here. Also Guardini adds some great points for Fablok, that will also be happy to see Ignatiev adding valuable points as 12th!
Cavendish looked like a contender, but totally cracked on the final 500metres: a disappointing 11th place eventually!
Ji with a good 13th place after his attack late into the race, the same goes for Hermans as 14th on the day!
Guerao with a 15th place ahead of Kragh Andersen, Arashiro, Baugnies, Kuznetsov and Vedel Kvist. Quite a shocker for defending race champion Guerao, since his team did quite some work earlier in the race. Definitely not, what he came for.
Carrefour with a shocker, too: Petit (24th) outside the Top-20 and Lo Cicero a non-factor as 57th! Bad results also for Vantomme (30th), Bouhanni (32rd), Cabrera (23rd) and Itami (43rd)!
