The cobbles season is about to be kicked off and the PTHC rated Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will be the first test for top-favorite Bewley and his challenge to win this race for the second time in his career. Summerhill as his biggest opponent, with other names like Vanspeybrouck, Senechal or Kamyshev as the next best cobblers on the startlist.
Fast finishing guys like Stallaert, Trentin or maybe even Rowe would be real threats for a possible bunch sprint - but obviously, riders like Stallaert or Trentin should be considered podium or Top-5 contenders even if we get a selective race.
The first riders to attack would also form the break of the day eventually, even though it took the peloton quite a while to finally allow the group establishing a bigger gap - with now "just" 155km to go, the peloton starts to slow down with the early escapees finally growing their advantage to over three minutes now:
Gaviria apparently not relying on a possible sprint from a bigger group today.. 30kms of cobbles may be too much for someone like him, after all..
The group's lead would peak at 6'30" before the pack would start chasing about halfway through the race. RBC, Moser and Air France as the most active teams - narrowing the gap back to 4 minutes with 90km to go..
..and to 1'49" with now just 44.5km remaining:
Naud - Benoot - Van Zyl working for RBC, which is doing all the work over the last few kilometres..
..also the big names already showing themselves at the front of the pack now: Vanbilsen, Senechal, Summerhill, Bewley!
And just a few moments later, it's pretty clear, why RBC set the pace for so long:
Summerhill tries to go clear from the pack from 44.5km outside the finish!
Vanbilsen going after him quickly!
A short-lived attempt though, as Boroš pulls the two attackers back quickly. With now still 41km to go, Summerhill is back at the front of the peloton, that is down to just 51 riders with the general pace being quite high so far..
The early escapees are just a minute ahead now..
38km to the finish and Summerhill goes again!
This time, his move sticks for quite a while and is actually looking like a dangerous attempt:
Bewley certainly feels it as well and he joins Summerhill with 37km to go!
The duo with a 28 seconds gap on the peloton (36 riders) and now just half a minute behind the breakaway (that goes into pieces now)..
Moulingui as the strongest escapee, who's now leading solo by a small margin ahead of Bewley/Summerhill, as well as Venturini and Gaviria as the only other early escapees left at the front..
36 seconds behind Bewley/Summerhill, there's a further selection in the main group, with now just 23 riders left in the first group:
Senechal Vanspeybrouck Stallaert Baugnies Vanbilsen Sulimov Trentin Boroš Maes Sibilla Vanmarcke Thomas Altur Burghardt Gerts Kamyshev Lindeman Gaudin Lhotellerie Zepuntke Skala (from the early break) Schäppi (from the early break)
Particularly Zepuntke and Kamyshev not looking good at all and they are quite far behind in this group!
Doing even worse and already dropped from this new main group:
Nolf Bush Van Keirsbulck (who's in a group behind Nolf/Bush)
28.5km to go and Summerhill/Bewley have caught up to the solo leader, with the next group still not too far in arrears:
Bewley Summerhill Moulingui
The main group went into further pieces on the next cobbles sector and indeed, Kamyshev and Zepuntke have been dropped quickly - 9 riders left in the new chasing group, that is 30 seconds behind Bewley/Summerhill:
The other two - Gaviria and Venturini - are about to get dropped, as they have nothing left to respond on the current pace from the favorites..
Maes/Boros 30 seconds behind this group, and another group with Altur/Sibilla is further 18 seconds in arrears.. a next group with Kamyshev/Burghardt/Zepuntke additional 24 seconds behind and out of contention for a notable result today!
the first chasing group works quite well together, but they are 47 seconds behind the leading trio now..
..Maes/Boros still behind them, now by 1'30" though and the group with Altur/Gerts is still about 30 seconds behind Maes..
10km to the finish and Moulingui hangs on with Summerhill/Bewley! The trio leads by a minute now..
The third group with Altur/Gerts has merged with group Zepuntke/Kamyshev now, yet they are more than four minutes behind the leading trio:
No more attacks and the leading trio kept their advantage until the final 2.5km of the day:
Summerhill ahead of Bewley and Moulingou can't follow anymore! What a huge fight he showed so far, but now's totally empty and done - but still about 47 seconds ahead of the 7-men-group with Stallaert, Vanspeybrouck, Trentin!
As soon as Summerhill launched his sprint, Bewley launched his as well.. and that ain't good news for the former..
..as Bewley easily dominates the sprint to win the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for the second time after his first win in 2016! He did well to follow Summerhill's crucial second attack and with the chasing group not capable of bridging across to the leading trio, he simply waited until the sprint decision.
Summerhill with a 2nd place, that's also some kind of a victory with Bewley attending at a cobbles race.. two attacks and dominating the competition (bar Bewley) - surely a good performance in his first big race this year.
Moulingou quickly losing those 46 seconds he had on the first chasing group! He's almost crossing the line, but the group is much faster with still some energies left to show a proper sprint here:
Senechal had an early lead, but it's Trentin moving forward with some better speed now!
Vanmarcke and Vanbilsen right behind them, with Stallaert surprisingly not in the mix for a possible podium finish here! Vanspeybrouck next, but too far away either..
Moulingui lungs in for 3rd! What a tight decision eventually, but also: what a huge day for him! As soon as he got caught from Bewley/Summerhill, most people expected him to drop back just like the other early escapees did. But he didn't and he earns himself the biggest reult of his career. Stunning podium finish.
Unlucky 4th place for Trentin, who easily beats the other guys in the group though..
Vanmarcke will be pleased with a narrow Top-5 finish ahead of Senechal..
Vanbilsen a good 7th ahead of Stallaert, Vanspeybrouck and Baugnies, who completes the Top-10.. Stallaert surely must have hoped for something better in this constellation, where his group was just beaten by a superior Bewley and Summerhill (and a surprising early escapee).
Four minutes later, the next riders cross the line - with Maes/Boros almost being caught by the bigger group behind them:
Maes still sprints for 11th ahead of Sulimov!
Boroš comes next ahead of Sibilla..
Thomas easily wins the sprint from the group - finishing 15th as his team's best..
Oliveira is his team's best as 16th (Altur an underwhelming 27th eventually).. Polnicky, Gaudin, Lhotellerie and a disappointing Zepuntke complete the Top-20. Also Kamyshev (23rd), Bush (28th), Gerts (29th), Nolf (34th) or Van Keirsbulck (46th) won't be happy with their performances today.
The cobbles season kicks off with Bewley on the top of the podium...
