Perfect weather conditions and an almost entirely flat parcours in and around Herning: more than 50km of cobbles will make for still a tough challenge though and the division's premium cobblers like Blythe, Vanspeybrouck, Baugnies or Zepuntke will try to deny Thomas a fourth victory here. A special race for Vanspeybrouck and his Carlsberg team, of course, and to deliver a big result on home soil should be an extra motivation for the whole squad.
A group of six riders broke clear from the pack early into the race, but is not allowed to establish a bigger gap yet:
The group held on to a small gap for a few kilometres, but is eventually reeled in by the peloton with 150km to go. A next group went clear then and those six riders would build the break of the day then:
Quite an interesting group with some decent cobblers and a former race-winner (Giaux). Plus a known breakaway rider like Moulingui, who's 3rd place at this year's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad certainly ain't forgotten!
And obviously, the top teams know the possible danger from such a leading group: Carlsberg showing it's ambitiouns from halfway through the race until now, that we have 37km remaining. The peloton never allowed the breakaway group to grow the gap above 3 minutes and as we now may enter the crucial sectors of the day, the gap is down to 47 seconds with the peloton already reduced to 65 riders.
Several cobbles sectors have been ridden already, but there's still five to come in this circuit around Herning!
No chance for Moulingui to repeat his surprising result from Omloop, as the peloton totally looked in control of the breakaway today:
Planckaert gave it a last attempt, but he's soon to be swallowed by the 49-men peloton with now just 24km and three cobbles sectors to come!
Penultimate cobbles sector and still no big attack yet with just 10.5km to the finish:
Blythe with an acceleration now though! The Brit at least forces the pace to go up and Baugnies is right behind him with Carlsberg still strong in numbers at the front of the group. Just 31 riders left in this bunch now and there's some notable names being dropped now:
Saber Nepomnyachsniy Debesay in one of the last groups being dropped from the pace now..
Lander Gaudin and Giaux Kuroeda as other notable names, who could not follow anymore!
Blythe kept pushing and Baugnies managed to join him at the front of the race with now 8km remaining! The duo opened up a small gap on the peloton (27 riders), where Vanbilsen is setting the pace in order to hang on with the new leading duo..
..and it kinda works, as Blythe and Baugnies could not really stay clear from the main group, that goes into further pieces as soon as the group entered the final cobbles sector of the day:
Blythe with another attempt to go clear..
Zepuntke and Maes try to follow!
Not far behind those three riders, a group of 10 riders has been formed:
Baugnies Burghardt Thomas Vanbilsen David Van Keirsbulck Vanmarcke Fenn Chatarunga Bush
Blythe, Zepuntke and Maes exit the final cobbles sector (4.5km to the finish) with a 17 seconds advantage on this second group..
..where Thomas is setting the pace now. Vanbilsen, David, Baugnies, Van Keirsbulck on the further positions, but obviously not willing to support Thomas at this point!
Shocking news for Vanspeybrouck and Carlsberg, since the Belgian could not join the leading groups! He's already 1'40" off group Blythe and really struggles to be amongst today's best. Terrible day for Carlsberg, which worked so hard for the second half of the race..
Vanspeybrouck now at least fighting to join those two groups ahead of him: Kuroeda (who recovered well from an earlier weakness), Albert, Grashev, Lindeman and another group with Theuns, Harrison, Rowe, Domene, Kosic and Insausti..
Back to the front, where the leading trio could not stay clear! They did not really work together and once they realized, that the chasing group ain't too far behind, they slowed down. That makes it a group of 12 riders entering the final 2km of the race, as Chatarunga could not stay with the group on those final few kilometres!
Blythe entering the finishing stretch in the leading position: Vanbilsen, Baugnies, Zepuntke, Maes, Van Keirsbulck and Thomas on the further positions..
Blythe also as the first to kick off the sprint from this leading group, exactly with just one kilometre to go:
Vanbilsen quickly catching up and they are all launching their final sprint from the same order as above!
Blythe maintains his leading position, but Thomas managed to move forward with some great speed now!
Vanbilsen can't keep up anymore, Baugnies goes past him.. Zepuntke, Van Keirsbulck, Maes and Bush in the most promising positions to fight for the final podium spot.. David with a small gap with Burghardt and Fenn behind him.. Vanmarcke is totally exhausted and can't sprint anymore..
Ohhhh, there goes Thomas past Blythe with some tremendous speed! The Brit goes strong towards his fourth victory here in Herning!
Blythe with still a nice advantage over Van Keirsbulck and Bush though - those two are significally faster than the other riders! David with a fast finish as well though, going past Zepuntke, Baugnies and Maes..
Thomas does it again! His third consecutive victory at the GP Herning and his fourth in total. Wow, he simply loves this race and certainly knows how to get yourself into a great position for the win here. He's enjoying quite a strong season so far. Well done.
Blythe has to fight for the podium, as Van Keirsbulck and Bush both aim to go past him on those final metres..
..which they do! Van Keirsbulck lungs in for a strong 2nd place ahead of Bush and an unlucky Blythe just misses out on the podium as 4th eventually!
A great result for Van Keirsbulck, who had so many disappointing results so far into this season. Bush continues to deliver notable result here and there.. and Blythe? Another missed opportunity, but at least he can't really blame his efforts today. He tried to go clear for two or three times and when he did, he had no support from neither Zepuntke or Maes.. Baugnies simply did not have the legs neither..
David completes the Top-5 with a nice finishing sprint!
Zepuntke comes in a solid 6th ahead of Maes and Baugnies..
Fenn and Burghardt complete the Top-10 with Vanbilsen and Vanmarcke finishing 11th and 12th.. the two Belgian totally cracked on the final few hundred metres and can't be too happy with missing out on the Top-10 today..
Harrison sprints for a 13th place one minute later..
Chatarunga fought hard, but could not counter this strong sprint from Harrison. Still a good 14th place for him..
Theuns completes the Top-15 ahead of Domene...
..and Vanspeybrouck finishes a disappointing 17th..
Rowe is his team's best finisher as 18th then.. Kuroeda would finish 22nd eventually.
Several DNFs with only 112 riders within the time limit (see the list below)..
A common picture from Herning: Geraint Thomas on the top of the podium, writing history!
