A new, challenging parcours from Deinze to Wevelgem: will a bigger group make it to the finish or will the best cobblers make for a selective race? The weather conditions will surely add some spice, with crosswinds between 45 and 55kmh the day won't be easier for the main contenders:
Blythe as the top-favorite with his teammate Degenkolb as the best sprinter, who handles cobbles well enough to maybe stay in the front group, if we will get a bunch sprint decision. Vanspeybrouck, Vanbilsen, Zepuntke, Vanmarcke, Baugnies as the next best cobbles specialists and Saber, Van Asbroeck, Petit, defending race champion Nepmnyachsniy and Theuns amongst the best sprinters.
Business as usual with a few early breakaway attempts failing to stay clear:
#1 - Steensen, Ruijgh, Stewart, Monk, Stannard, Russo, Arashiro, R Silva
#2 - Giaux, R Silva, Owen, De Bondt, Ruijgh, M Rowe, Ngamoki-Cameron, Arashiro, Moulingui
#3 - Holloway, Giaux
#4 - Holloway, Giaux, Arashiro, De Bondt, Kaislavuo, Belgasem
Four of those latest attackers would eventually form the break of the day with now 217km to go - with another rider joining the front group soon after they were allowed to establish a bigger gap:
Holloway Giaux Arashiro Novardianto De Bondt
Holloway and Giaux amongst those sprinters, who rode cobbles quite decently - but apparently, they do not expect to be in the mix for a possible bunch sprint today. At least they do not count on such a scenario and made a different choice for today's tactics..
The breakaway's lead would peak at eight minutes, but you know the deal: several teams sharing the work in the chase from halfway through the race (Kulczyk, Carlsberg, Iberia as the most active) and after cutting down the gap with every ridden kilometre, it's Lierse SK, that eventually pulls all the escapees back with still 49km to go:
Giaux and Novardianto as the last two being swallowed by the pack, that is down to just 58 riders with almost all cobbles sectors done now! No attacks yet, but the cobbles and the crosswinds definitely destroyed quite a big group of riders already..
..and that's bad news for some guys, who surely must have hoped to stay with the pack until this point at least:
Degenkolb as one of the latest riders being dropped from the pack abuot 50km before finish!
Rowe and Rowe have been dropped a few minutes before..
Ferreira apparently on a bad day, as he's in group Rowe/Rowe more than one minute behind the pack!
Harrison, Peeters and Van der Haar as other names, that could not follow the pace anymore..
On the final cobbles sector of the day - 45km before the finish - we finally see the first big moves in the peloton:
They can't break clear yet, but the peloton indeed goes into pieces with another major split with now 41km to go: 23 riders in a new front group, that is 28 seconds ahead of a next bigger group, which is now fighting to hang on. Let's have a look at who's in the new leading group though:
Baugnies, Langeveld Vanspeybrouck, Ostergaard, Nolf Vanbilsen Blythe, Domene Maes, Okbamariam Vanmarcke, Taillefour Zepuntke Burghardt, Thomas Fenn, Atkins Theuns David Kuroeda Bush Jacobs Debesay
A few notable names missing:
Saber at the front of the next group, where also Van Asbroeck, Van Keirsbulck and Albert are in danger to miss out on the crucial split for at least a Top-20 result here..
Nepomnyachsniy not performing like last year and he's in a next group already further 38 seconds behind group Saber/Van Asbroeck!
39km to go and just when the first chasing group with Saber/Van Asbroeck managed to close the gap to the leading group, there's another acceleration with the next attack going off the front:
Baugnies with his second attempt!
Vanbilsen and Maes jump behind a few moments later and those moves make the main group going into pieces again:
9 riders building a new group, that is now trying to chase Baugnies and Vanbilsen/Maes with still 37.7km to go:
Thomas, Burghardt Vanmarcke, Taillefour Blythe, Domene Zepuntke Langeveld Fenn
And then, a group with 16 riders and a 22 seconds disadvantage
Vanspeybrouck and Nolf desperately the pace there!
Yet they struggle to bridge across the first group, that has now caught up to Baugnies and Vanbilsen/Maes with 32.5km remaining:
11 riders forming the new leading group with Bush a few seconds behind and trying to connect!
Vanspeybrouck, Nolf, David, Theuns, Saber, Debesay, Kuroeda and Takenouchi 48 seconds in arrears!
29.5km left and guess, who's on the attack again?
Yap, it's Baugnies with his third attack of the day!
Again, no luck though: Domene with some great support for Blythe so far, as he pulled this latest attack back again - with now 26km to go, we still have the leading group alltogether and Bush finally joined the group to make it 12 riders now..
The next group is already down by one minute and that's definitely not, what Vanspeybrouck had hoped for today:
Vanspeybrouck Theuns David attack the group, that blows into pieces again!
Debesay trying to jump behind..
..riders like Saber, Van Asbroeck, Nolf, Petit or Van Keirsbulck can't follow..
18km to go and Vanspeybrouck, David and Theuns succesfully bridged across the leading group and so did Debesay!
The pace would slow down for a few moments, but then goes the next move: Baugnies for his fourth try!
Yet again.. he could not go clear! Still 16 riders in the group, where Domene proves to be a great helper for Blythe..
..14km to the finish..
7.7km and Baugnies just does not give up! He makes it five attacks and the others in the group quickly jump behind!
They can't stick with Baugnies' latest move though! 5.8km before the finish Baugnies finally gets a gap and he's now 20 seconds ahead of the main group!
Thomas and Vanmarcke go clear from the group, too and they are just 9 seconds behind Baugnies..
Fenn and Langeveld have been dropped from the group now..
It's looking quite good for Baugnies at this point, where he leads the race by 15 seconds with just 4.6km to go:
Maes Bush Vanmarcke Thomas form a new chasing group now..
Blythe is trying to follow..
..a group of eight riders is some seconds further behind: Burghardt, Vanbilsen, David, Domene, Vanspeybrouck, Theuns, Debesay and Zepuntke!
Baugnies mainting a small gap until 1.6km before the finish, but group Vanmarcke, Bush, Thomas and Maes is coming closer with the finishing stretch already in sight!
Blythe and four more riders about 20 seconds in arrears: David, Burghardt, Theuns and Debesay..
800metres to go and the sprint has been kicked off: Baugnies can't hold on to his advantage and he will probably struggle to fight for the victory, as Bush is the first chaser to go past him with the better speed now:
Vanmarcke, Thomas and Maes on the further positions.. Blythe not far behind, but not in striking distance.. Debesay going strong!
Thomas now moving forward to the front position and he's easily the fastest at this point, where only a few hundred metres are to go.. Bush struggling to shake off Baugnies and Vanmarcke is in the mix, too..
Maes can't compete with the four guys ahead of him.. Blythe struggles to keep his pace and there's David catching up with some good speed now! Debesay ahead of Burghardt.. Theuns cracked!
Thomas sprints to quite a comfortable victory! He certainly played his skills to perfection today and while not being amongst the most active riders, he picked the perfect moment to go clear from the group of favorites and finish it off with a dominating sprint. Well done!
Bush now ahead of Vanmarcke and Baugnies..
..for a great 2nd place: Bush with a super strong finish after his efforts to join the main group earlier on. He would then join the crucial late moves as well and goes for an unexpected podium finish in this tough race today.
Vanmarcke with a good 3rd place ahead of Baugnies, who made for so much action today. Five attacks and definitely the main reason for the race being so selective today. A kinda unlucky 4th place then, but still a good result afterall.
Also David will be happy with a 5th place, as he beats Maes on the line eventually! A strong sprint from David, who easily dropped a struggling Blythe on the final few hundred metres!
Debesay makes it even worse, since he went past Blythe as well! A fantastic 7th place for Debesay and a quite disappointing 8th place for Blythe. With Degenkolb dropped quite early, it has not go as Iberia would have liked it to go. At least Domene adds a strong 11th place.
Burghardt a good 9th with 29 seconds lost on Thomas eventually. Surely a great result for the team today!
Theuns could not play his sprint too well, but at least he completes the Top-10..
Domene 11th ahead of Vanbilsen, Langeveld and two disappointing pre-race favorites: Vanspeybrouck as 14th ahead of Zepuntke and Fenn..
Five minutes later, the groups came together for a bunch sprint, where Petit finishes 17th ahead of Nepomnyachsniy, Van Asbroeck and Giaux as 20th. Disappointing results for Ferreira (25th), Van Keirsbulck (28), Saber (34) and Jacobs (38). A few DNFs as well, check the list below.
