And the first edition of the Roma Maxima is about to begin, though it's ridden on a well known (former Strada Appia Antica) parcours. Perfect weather conditions and a beautiful route: bring it on!
Top favorites should be Viana do Castelo winner Baugnies, Vanbilsen, Vanmarcke, Theuns and other dangerous riders like Burghardt, Nolf, Gent - Wevelgem runner up Bush or Saber as the best sprinter.
Nine riders went clear from the pack quickly, but they are struggling to establish a bigger gap than 45 seconds even while riding at the front for quite a while now:
Eriksson Molano Porte Dewulf Ait El Abdia Navardauskas Talacka Kamp De Decker
And indeed, the peloton would not let them stay clear - maybe because of the size of the group? 20km into the race, the early break has been caught already and instead it's five riders eventually forming the actual break of the day:
Eriksson Molano Videika Thomas Felipe
This group would establish a gap up to 5 minutes before the peloton would start to slowly chase..
Lierse SK, Carlsberg and Repsol showing their colours at the front of the pack and they share the work quite frequently. Surely they do not want to risk any stupid breakaway dilemma today!
And those teams deliver, as the breakaway group is caught about 30km before the finish - just in the middle of the final half of the race - with the first cobbles sectors passed. Just 59 riders remain in the peloton with all notable names safely in the pack so far.
The first big attack of the day happens with 24km to go now:
Vanbilsen tries to go clear!
Vanbilsen holds on to a rather small gap for the next few kilometres and with now 20km remaining, he's ahead of the peloton by 31 seconds. The bunch went into further pieces with the top guys now chasing Vanbilsen and we have just 28 riders left in the main group. Again, no bigger names being dropped yet: Verbist as maybe the most notable name not able to follow anymore..
A group of three riders now tries to bridge across Vanbilsen:
Baugnies Vanmarcke Nolf
They can't go clear from the main group though and also Vanbilsen is now struggling to maintain his gap - just 9 seconds advantage for him with now just 14km to go and the domestiques of some big guns doing the pace at the front of the group:
Domene, Langeveld and Taillefour pulling Vanbilsen almost back to the bunch!
9.5km to go and another cobbles sector:
Vanmarcke raising the pace again, trying to drop the others!
Vanbilsen, Bush, Nolf, Burghardt, Saber, Theuns and Baugnies on the further positions right behind Vanmarcke and they try to hang on. Obviously, we have some crucial moments ahead!
Indeed, as the latest acceleration by Vanmarcke opens up a split in the still 27-men-group:
Vanmarcke Vanbilsen Bush Nolf Burghardt with a 16 seconds gap on the remaining group!
Baugnies as the first trying to jump across this new leading group.. Theuns, Saber (with still some good support from Per), Bolivar, Breen, Grand, Debesay, Van der Haar on the further positions..
Baugnies could join the close the gap on his own though and while Vanmarcke and Vanbilsen seem to open up a gap in the leading group, a new chasing group with 6 riders has been formed by Baugnies attempt to chase the leading five:
Per Saber Baugnies Theuns Bolivar Debesay
A next group with Breen, Nepomnyachnsniy, Taubel, Harrison, Grashev, Van der Haar and a few more is now 23 seconds behind group Baugnies with just 6.7km remaining!
Vanmarcke/Vanbilsen couldn't go away from group Saber/Bush though and once they got caught, there's a slowdown in the leading group, causing a merge between the two first groups with now just 4.6km to go and the penultimate cobbles sector near the Forum Romanum:
Vanmarcke Vanbilsen Nolf Burghardt Bush Baugnies Bolivar Theuns Breen (who managed to bridge across from the next group) Saber Per
Debesay can't follow anymore and he's 51 seconds behind now!
Nepomnyachsniy another solo chaser, who's catching up to Debesay soon..
2.7km to the finish and the leading group now keeps shadowing each other instead of trying a late attack:
Vanmarcke still ahead of Vanbilsen, with Bush and Nolf right behind them.. Saber on the last position, but looking better than his strong domestique Per!
1.6km and the final cobbles sector. It's time to position yourself properly, as it will definitely come down to a sprint between those 11 riders:
Vanmarcke and Vanbilsen at the front, but Vanmarcke obviously does not look to comfortable with this position..
Nolf looks dead empty, but still on third position ahead of Baugnies and now Per/Saber! Per pulling his captain towards the front, he's really been of great help for Saber in this race!
Bush/Bolivar, Theuns, Breen and Burghardt then.. Theuns trying to catch Saber's wheel, but he's not too well positioned yet..
Vanbilsen is the first to launch a late sprint and he quickly drops Vanmarcke with a strong kick!
Saber obviously amongst the fastest as well, but there's still a gap between him and Vanbilsen..
Theuns with a strong acceleration as well, though coming from the worst position of those four riders at the front! Breen, Baugnies significally faster than Nolf.. Per can't counter any acceleration neither.. Burghardt has nothing to give as well!
Just a few hundred metres to go, one last tricky corner ahead:
Vanbilsen still going strong and with the same advantage on Saber! Theuns could not make up any ground either, but he's ahead of Vanmarcke now..
Breens in a good position for a strong result, it seems and then there's Bush going past Baugnies! Boliver ahead of Per/Nolf/Burghardt..
Vanbilsen is quickly approaching to the finish and he's still ahead of Saber and Theuns is still too far behind as well..
Vanbilsen takes the first edition of the Roma Maxima and what a performance particularly in this sprint from a reduced leading group! Coming off a great position, he finished it off with some great speed and even the two best sprinters couldn't really match his tempo eventually.
Saber with still a great 2nd place though. He surely must have hoped for the victory, once he made the crucial splits - but he must admit, that Vanbilsen delivered a pretty good sprint as well. Saber slightly faster, but apparently launching his sprint too late.
Theuns sprinting to 3rd and the final podium spot. Just like Saber, he played his sprint skills almost to perfection - with only one premium cobbler having the better end though. A nice podium result for Theuns nevertheless.
Vanmarcke with a good 4th place then..
Bush completes the Top-5 with a strong sprint and Bolivar makes it a kinda huge result for WCC then! That's definitely what a manager can hope for with a rather less stacked cobblers field here..
Baugnies has to settle for a rather disappointing 7th place today. He wasn't as aggressive as he used to race this season and could not match those other guys' speed eventually..
A good result for Breen as 8th then. Once again, one of Delvaux's co-leaders managed to hang on with the big guns!
Per adding a great 9th place for Philips and surely some credit for Saber's runner-up must go to him today!
Nolf must be disappointed with his 10th place, but he could not compete in the bunch sprint anymore..
Burghardt crosses the line as 11th.. he looked good for quite a while, but cracked on the final kilometre..
Debesay finishes 12th ahead of Nepomnyachsniy, eventually losing 1'37" on today's winner. Solid results for both, even though Debesay might be disappointed to get dropped from the front group rather late into the race..
Domene wins the sprint from the next group, taking a solid 14th place ahead of Harrison, De Bondt, Russo, Grashev, Van der Haar and Ostergaard.. that makes for a rather shocking result for Sauber Petronas, as both Taubel (25th) and Grand (27th) totally cracked in the crucial moments. Hugentobler (26th) might have done better afterall, but he supported his captain(s) until the finish.
