The Viana do Castelo goes into it's fourth edition and the spectators across the route through the city will certainly hope for a more entertaining race than what they had to follow last season. In addition to the challenging route, we do have notable crosswinds and a startlist packed with premium cobblers:
Vanspeybrouck, Baugnies, David and Theuns amongst the top-favorites on this hilly parcours. Also Debesay, who's coming off a great performance at Gent - Wevelgem, should be rated a promising rider today. Less strong puncheurs will hope for the cobbles to be the decisive terrain though: Blythe, Zepuntke, Vanbilsen, Vanmarcke or Maes as those, who can handle hills at least in a way. Thomas and Bush, who had a stellar G-W, should have more problems to hang on with the best today.
The break of the day is quickly formed and seven riders would love a similar scenario like last year, where the early break managed to fight for the victory eventually:
Also Taillefour (a tactical move?), Eriksson and Kaislavuo tried to join the group, but could not stay clear from the pack. The actual breakaway group would then establish a gap up to 7 minutes with teams like Minions and Carlsberg starting to lead the pursuit about 120km before the finish..
Particularly Minions with a tremendous amount of work at the front of the pack until now, where we have 63km to go and the breakaway's lead cut down to 1'39" in the meantime. Also Carlsberg still showing some interest and providing some minor support for Minion's work horses.
And so it's indeed a different scenario from last year, which should make for a more interesting race after all:
46km before the finish, the early break has already been caught!
Moulingui keeps to impress and pulls quite a long turn at the front of the pack (supported by De Haes, Lindeman, Marcos, Flaksis) and the peloton has been reduced to now just 63 riders with still two laps (and climbs) to come!
30.5km to go now and it's Marcos setting the pace in the meantime. The pack went into further pieces and this last major split looks like a crucial split, as we just have 23 riders left in the leading group:
Marcos Baugnies, Langeveld Vanspeybrouck, Nolf, Sinkeldam Zepuntke, Albert Vanbilsen, Van Asbroeck, Verhelst David Theuns, Kung Van Keirsbulck Blythe Vanmarcke Burghardt Gaday, Schoonbroodt Arissol Ferreira Van der Haar
The most notable riders being dropped are quickly down by more than one minute and probably won't fight back to stay in contention for a Top-20/25 result:
Maes Bush Debesay Breen together in the latest group being dropped from Minion's pace!
Sinkeldam as the new pace setter with 18km remaining - still with some support from the Minions (Albert now) though:
18 riders left in the leading group with Nolf, Ferreira, Langeveld, Van Asbroeck as the next riders dropping off!
14.4km to go and Baugnies keeps being active in those races, as he tries to get away from the leading group by raising his pace now!
He couldn't really establish a bigger gap with Sinkeldam still providing some valuable support for Vanspeybrouck, who's then part of the next wave of attacks on the final climb of the day with now 10.8km remaining:
Baugnies Theuns David Vanspeybrouck try to go clear from the leading group!
Burghardt, Arissol and Gaday as the next riders struggling to hang on with the group..
Zepuntke, Vanmarcke, Blythe, Van Keirsbulck and Van der Haar followed soon after and as soon as group Baugnies would realize, that they would not go clear, the group comes together with now 10.2km left in the race:
Baugnies, Theuns, Vanspeybrouck and David still in the leading positions - Zepuntke, Vanmarcke, Blythe and Van der Haar right behind them with the hilltop almost reached!
The pace would slow down for a few moments, but with now just 5.7km to go, we see the next rider accelerating from the front group:
Baugnies again!
David trying to hang on and getting a small gap on the group, too!
Baugnies though really impressive on this cobbled downhill sector and he grows his lead to 29 seconds with just 3.2km remaining!
Some changes in the chasing group now..
David couldn't stay clear from the group and instead it's four other riders, who open up a gap on this downhill sector:
Vanmarcke Theuns Zepuntke Van der Haar with a 23 seconds advantage on the next group..
..where Vanspeybrouck and Blythe are setting the pace in order to stay in the fight for the Top-5!
The 23 seconds remains the same with now just 2.3km to go for this third group on the road: David, Vanbilsen, Schoonbroodt, Van Keirsbulck, Albert, Sinkdeldam, Marcos and Kung not far behind Blythe/Vanspeybrouck..
..a next group with Burghardt, Gaday and Arissol further 1'29" behind and ahead of a group with Ferreira, Nolf and Van Asbroeck!
Just a kilometre to go for Baugnies and it looks like he will make it to the finish for a big victory:
Vanmarcke and Theuns leading the first chasing group, that is 30 seconds in arrears! Still about 23 seconds ahead of Blythe/Vanspeybrouck..
Baugnies indeed takes the victory! Opposing to his Gent - Welvegem performance, he's coming away with a deserved victory today and his aggressive tactics have paid off here. His brave ride down the final descent as the key for his success. Stunning show.
Vanmarcke kicked off the sprint for the runner-up spot then, but Theuns quickly goes past him with just a few hundred metres to go! Van der Haar with a great race, but not yet close enough to stay in contention for a podium, it seems. The same goes for Zepuntke, who really struggles now..
Theuns easily sprints for a great 2nd place ahead of Vanmarcke, as they cross the line 22 seconds behind Baugnies. Both should be happy with such a result: Theuns played his skills to perfection and Vanmarcke will be happy to make the podium in a hilly classic.
Van der Haar with a fantastic 4th place ahead of Zepuntke then! A big performance for his CT team Delvaux, Van der Haar did significally better than what his manager might have hoped for. Zepuntke may be satisfied with a Top-5 as well, even though his team's hard work did not end with a podium result eventually..
Blythe and Vanspeybrouck were joined by David and Schoonbroodt on the final kilometre of the race and now it's Blythe in the most promising position to fight for the next place..
Yap, Blythe finishes 6th ahead of Vanspeybrouck, David and Schoonbroodt! A kinda solid result for Blythe, actually, since he might not have expected to finish with some better puncheurs here. Vanspeybrouck with a rather disappointing result again, even though his 7th place is much better than what he did in Wevelgem.
David can't be really happy neither, opposing to Schoonbroodt, who did quite well to benefit from his hill/cobbles combination.
More than a minute later, Vanbilsen completes the Top-10 ahead of Van Keirsbulck..
Sinkeldam a strong 12th ahead of Albert, Marcos and Kung: some strong backup results for those teams' domestiques!
Gaday 16th ahead of Burghardt and Arissol..
Van Asbroeck finishes 19th ahead of Langeveld, Ferreira and Nolf... Bush 27th, Maes 28th, Debesay 33rd ahead of Moulingui.
