The question on everyone's lips is whether Sam Bewley can be dethroned in a race he's made his own. All the PT big guns have descended here to try their luck and it remains to be seen whether they can stop the 5-peat.
Favourites
HIL
STA
RES
COB
SPR
ACC
Bewley
71
78
76
83
83
83
Van Avermaet
75
77
74
81
77
77
Summerhill
73
76
72
83
70
73
Trentin
74
76
71
81
75
76
Baugnies
72
80
73
80
65
73
Senechal
67
79
74
82
69
74
Wisniowski
71
75
76
80
73
76
Stallaert
67
76
68
81
79
76
Gerts
76
76
80
78
72
70
Altur
70
75
70
81
72
68
Daniel
69
76
76
80
76
72
Polanc
73
78
73
78
67
75
Kamyshev
65
81
75
82
66
60
Teunissen
66
77
73
81
67
69
Kristoff
68
75
71
78
83
79
Conditions are perfect with a slight crosswind at the start cooling down the riders.
We're underway as a five man break is allowed to get away in the opening kilometers. They are: Barbero Kastrantas Bol Schwarzmann Hofstetter
With 200 km to go, there's already some co-ordination in the pack as they start to chase the break. RBC, Moser, Evonik, Isostar, Kulczyk and Aker all take turns at the front. The break have a 9'12" lead for the moment.
With 160 km remaining, riders have already started to get dropped, including Bakari.
The break is at 7'50" with 120 km to go.
Schwarzmann and Hofstetter are dropped with 105 km to go.
Riders are being dropped at regular intervals now from the pack.
And now there's a big split in the pack because of the fast pace. 48 riders have dropped off the back with Kristoff the only pre-race favourite in this group. He does have teammates with him, and they are trying to get back to the peloton.
85 km to go. Hofstetter is back with the break.
The gap to Kristoff's group is now increasing for the 78 man peloton, who have now navigated the final hill.
Hofstetter's revival lasts just 5 km as he is dropped again as soon as the first cobbled section starts.
Schwarzmann is caught with 65 km to go. The peloton trail the break by 4'36". Kristoff is a further 2' behind. Hofstetter is a minute ahead of the peloton.
Hofstetter is caught 5 km later.
45 km. Schwarzmann is already dropped from the peloton!
Baugnies attacks...
...and catches the break.
The gap to the Kristoff group is more than 5 minutes now.
The remaining break and Baugnies are eventually caught.
There is another split in the pack 5 km later, with 34 riders now remaining in the front group. All the favourites have made the split.
10 riders get away from the bigger group - Summerhill, Baugnies, Senechal, Trentin, Bewley, Polanc, Gerts, Kamyshev, Van Avermaet and Altur
The second group has 24 riders inclduing Teunissen, Tsatevich, Stallaert, Wisniowski, Daniel, Nolf and Sulimov.
The gap is increasing between the front two groups, the latter having already shed seven more riders.
30 km to go. Potts, Daniel, Teunissen and Sulimov attack from the second group and try to bridge the gap.
They make the catch 4 km later, so that the lead group is now 14 riders strong.
Nolf is now chasing E1 on his own.
Nolf catches the lead group just as the second and final cobbled section starts. This is also the exact time when Baugnies and Bewley decide to attack.
Summerhill and Polanc have jumped across and have almost closed down the gap to the leading duo.
With 14 km to go, the story behind the front three groups is as follows:
E4 (2'46" ) -> Stallaert, Tsatevich, Juul-Jensen, Declerq
E5 (3'16" ) -> Wisniowski, Langeveld, Boros, Kruijswijk, Archimandritis, Kastrantas
12 km to go. The situation at the front is as follows:
E1 -> Bewley, Baugnies, Polanc, Summerhill
E2 -> Senechal, Altur, Trentin, Gerts
E3 -> Teunissen
E4 -> Kamyshev, Potts
E5 -> Van Avermaet, Daniel, Sulimov, Nolf
10 km left. The change at the front is that Senechal has managed to join the front group. E2 now is Altur, Trentin, Gerts and Teunissen. E4 and E5 mentioned previously have merged into the current third group on the road.
With 7 km left, the cobbles have ended. The front group temporarily slow down as no one really takes up the pace-making. This allows the second group to catch up and make it a nine man group at the front.
And now, the next group catches up too, minus Potts and Teunissen.
Potts and Teunissen do make it back, and they pull Declerq along with them.
3 km left. Five riders go clear again and it's the same riders again: Baugnies Bewley Summerhill Senechal Polanc
Potts, Kamyshev and Nolf are dropped from the group half a kilometer later.
Declerq is losing touch too.
With just a kilometer to go, the second group are closing in on the leading five.
The sprint starts in earnest with 700 meters to go for the front-runners.
Bewley guns it and is clearly in the lead with 500 meters remaining.
Here's the situation with 300 meters left:
Bewley
Baugnies
Senechal
Summerhill
Polanc
Sulimov
Trentin
Altur
Teunissen
Gerts
Van Avermaet
Daniel
Inside the final 100 meters and there looks to be only one very familiar winner now. Trentin, Sulimov and Van Avermaet are coming up while Summerhill looks to be slowing.
And indeed it is Bewley taking the win in this race for the fifth successive time! What an achievement for the talismanic Kiwi.
Baugnies takes a fantastic 2nd place for wildcard team Kulczyk with Senechal completing the podium. Polanc and Summerhill come through next. Trentin and Sulimov are 6th and 7th respectively, with the latter making it a very good result for Tinkoff.
Gerts is 8th, with Altur and Teunissen making up the Top 10. Daniel and Van Avermaet are next.
Declerq is 13th.
Potts is next, with Kamyshev pipping Nolf for 15th.
Spoiler
No timings or podium picture as the game crashed before the podium. Sorry about that.
