The third edition of the Betonexpressz GP is about to being kicked off and the biggest quesiton may be, if there's anyone able to beat Guarnieri. We've seen him failing before, so today's race certainly no easy going for the top favorite. And of course, there's also an opportunity for roleurs to fool the sprinters - the weather conditions are perfect though, no crosswinds that would make it an even tougher challenge for those sprinters, who may already suffer from those minor climbs here.
A few early breakaway attempts did not stick for too long:
Eventually, it's an all-amateurs's breakaway group going clear 40km into the race:
Lau Per Herrada
The breakaway's gap would peak around six minutes before the peloton would start to chase about 115km before the finish:
with now 82km to go, it's teams like GCN, Valio and ENI-MOL sharing the work at the front of the pack, narrowing the gap back to 4'18" for now..
Delvaux would join those teams with some minor support here and then - the early break's advantage is down to a minute with still 30km remaining:
Kortsidakis and Tybor attack from the peloton and try to bridge across the leading trio!
No luck though and also a second attempt by Kortsidakis is shut down quickly:
19km before the finish, both the latest attackers and the early break has been reeled in by the peloton! Valio (Aaltio setting the pace at this point), ENI-MOL, GNC and now also Sauber showing it's colours prominently at the front of the bunch. Those teams certainly have the things under control so far..
And it remains the same until the final 4km, where the sprint preparation has already begun and the trains have been set up, too! No more attacks, the sprinter teams were simply too strong today:
McLay
Vinther
Haddi
Liepins
Aregger
Keukeleire
Manninen
Salleh
Vanoverschelde
Matthews
Coutinho
Kruopis
Guarnieri
Modolo
Bogdanovics
Brus
Tewelde
2.2km to go and Vinther is the first leadout to drop back.. Aregger/Salleh moved into the leading position with GCN's train losing some ground (not yet concerning, however)!
Sakala trying to catch up to those sprinters!
They are approaching the flamme rouge and the picture changes quickly with the final leadouts almost done with their work:
Aregger releases Salleh from the premium position and Coutinho, Manninen, Matthews right behind his wheel..
Haddi still ahead of Keukeleire and Vanoverschelde..
..and then a small gap! Guarnieri lost his good position and finds himself behind McLay and Kruopis, not yet launching his sprint!
Also Bogdanovics, Brus, Modolo, Tewelde as those, who may miss out on the crucial moment.. Sakala still going strong to indeed join those elite sprinters!
Final kilometre and now Keukeleire launches his finishing kick, too! Salleh, Coutinho, Manninen, Matthews and Vanoverschelde in the most promising positions alongside Salleh and Keukeleire..
..Kruopis and Guarnieri now trying to catch up to those at the front, but there's still a way to go for top favorite!
A way too long? Guarnieri amongst the fastet now, but he comes off the final corner with still six riders ahead of him:
Coutinho moving into the leading position with Salleh struggling to keep the pace! Matthews right behind him, just like Vanoverschelde and also Keukeleire goes strong..
Manninen behind Salleh and not in the ideal position anymore.. Kruopis not far behind Guarnieri.. Brus, Bogdanovics and Modolo may fight for the lower Top-10 placings!
Just 200metres to go and Matthews goes past Coutinho with a great final kick!
Keukeleire struggles to hang on with Coutinho and from behind, there comes a fast Guarnieri trying to go past Vanoverschelde..
Manninen recovers from his struggles and easily goes past Salleh.. Kruopis next ahead of a strong Brus and Modolo!
Commanding victory for Matthews! That worked to perfection for him: coming from a nice position early into the sprint and finishing it off with some great speed and a comfortable win..
..ahead of Coutinho, who lungs in for a strong 2nd place!
Keukeleire completes the podium ahead of Guarnieri, who can't be happy with his 4th place here. He had Coutinho's wheel in the sprint train and just missed out on the crucial acceleration, when he simply launched his sprint too late. A good podium for Keukeleire though, even though he obviously would have love to win..
Manninen completes the Top-5 ahead of Kruopis, Vanoverschelde, Modolo, Salleh and Brus! A kinda solid result for Manninen, who got stuck behind Salleh for a few seconds though.. Also Vanoverschelde lost some ground on the final few hundred metres. Brus will be happy with a Top-10 result though!
Tewelde as 11th with another solid result for an amateurs team, beating Bogdanovics and King easily..
Sakala with quite a strong 14th place for Signal Iduna - the team did well to show it's colours after missing out on the early break! An even more important, Sakala managed to snatch a notable result in this bunch sprint.
Matthews celebrating his victory then. To win a classic is always something special and credit, where credit is due: he simply displayed an almost perfect sprint today. Well done.
