Welcome to Lisbon Classic, the route will take us northwest up to the coast, before heading inland over some hilly climbs in the area between Tagus River and The Atlantic coastline, before heading back to Lisbon.
We have got a howling winds at the start this morning, the meteorologist expect winds from 50 up to almost 70 km/hour, no doubt that it will affect how this race will be run, not being alert today may be very costly.
The early breakaway is huge today, 11 riders have got 44” even before we get out of Lisbon, they keep it up for more than 20 km, but it gets neutralized and we get another attack by 5 riders, then 6 riders but again it is brought back, now more than 52 km gone by without a successful breakaway, that must have been draining the riders under these difficult weather conditions.
Amongst those most visible in the peloton have been Rovny Barbero Brockhoff Stenersen
The riders participating in breakaways was: Powless Balloni Fernandes Vogt Watson Krigbaum Ariesen Quevedo Rybakov Toupalik Egidio Petrovski Van Niekerk Rodríguez Azman Takenouchi
Just as we are about the reach the Atlantic coast we get what is to become the breakaway of the day, it is Schreurs, Vogt, Takenouchi and Van Niekerk
They will build up a lead of 6’10”, before we see any reaction from the peloton, at this point we still has about 100 km racing left.
Over this early part of the pursuit most of the work is done by Rovny Barbero, Brockhoff, Bagdonas Ackermann
The pace is high enough to reduce the distance slowly, but even though we have crosswinds at 50-65 km/h not enough to split the peloton.
Next major development comes with 42 km to the line, it is Smukulis attacking from the peloton, with breakaway 2’52” ahead.
Smukulis joins the breakaway with 26 km left, but the peloton is coming closer and we have a last hard hill climb, they won’t get over that before they are caught.
There is no rest for the riders today, just after the morning break is caught, close to the top of the hill another dangerous attack. It is strong puncher/rouleur Gerts.
Gerts got 30” under the 20km banner.
We got one minor hill left Ngamoki-Cameron, Redecker and Budenieks pulling the peloton forward.
14 km left now just 13” for Gerts.
With crosswind at 69 km/hour the inevitable happens and we get the huge split, Van Poppel, Tzortzakis, Serebriakov, Castañeda, Rowe, Aberasturi, Havik, Krieger, Suryadi, Bertilsson, Santos, Avila, Cisse, Thwaites, Perera, Bar and Farrar did not make the cut.
Gerts get caught right after the 10 km banner, and the peloton slows down to around 36 km/h. This might have been an opportunity for those left behind, but it does not happen.
With 5 km left Feng attacks and now it is definitely over for the mentioned riders left behind, the peloton is just 63 riders at this point.
With Smirnovs leading the peloton, we see another attempt, this time from Bellis sneaking off at the left side.
To mention the better sprinters well placed between the first 20 riders, we got Howard, Guerao, Coquard, Van Stayen and Grosu in this picture.
4 km left.
3 km left Guardini have lost contact
Up front Feng 5-6 meters in front of Bellis, they got 15”
The peloton very unorganized compared to the usual mass sprint, the crosswind and high pace pursuit have made it impossible to form the standard lead-out trains, it looks something like this:
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Smirnovs
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Rowe
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Grosu
Ponzi
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Grosu
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Van Avermaet
Van Stayen
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Stoltz
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Howard
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Ignatiev
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Dzamastagic
Mohs
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Redecker
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Ahlstrand
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Wohler
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Demare
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Coquard
Silvestre
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Varga
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Poljanski
Degenkolb
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Kristoff
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Gerts
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Guerao
Vermeltfoort
Jans
Holloway
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2 km left, Feng and Bellis are back in the bunch. Even though we are this close no one has opened the sprint, with a pace of just 39 km/h everyone is saving energy.
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Rowe
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Grosu
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Van Stayen
Bellis
Ponzi
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Coquard
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Feng
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Howard
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Van Avermaet
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Kristoff
Demare
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Silvestre
Mohs
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Redecker
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Ahlstrand
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Smirnovs
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Dzamastagic
Degenkolb
Lander
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Wohler
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Vermeltfoort
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Stoltz
Holloway
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Roelandts
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Varga
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Kuznetsov
Gerts
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Saber
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Guerao
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Smit
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Boivin
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Edmondson
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Then with 1.7 km left, Van Stayen opens the sprint.
Soon Coquard at his wheel and then moves up by his side – they pace down towards the red kite side by side – not a single spectator takes a breath.
Coquard first under the red kite, less than a cycle length in front of Van Stayen
Grosu first in the next group some 8-10 meters back Kristoff, Howard, Demare and Rowe in the next line
Then Silvestre, Degenkolb, Mohs
Right behind those Ahlstrand, Ponzi and Van Avermaet
A small gap down to in this ordre: Bellis, Lander, Roelandts, Ignatiev and Holloway
400 meters left, Coquard still in the lead but not by much.
Grosu also still 3rd, but Demare now much closer and Degenkolb have moved fast now side by side with Demare
Behind those Kristoff, Mohs, Silvestre and Ahlstrand.
Rowe a bit further back at the right side.
200 meters left. Coquard keeps laying distance to Van Stayen it look good for him.
Van Stayen seems to fade,with the riders behind coming closer.
Demare now leads this group in front of Grosu, then Degenkolb, but they are very close together hardly decided between them.
Kristoff at Degenkolb’s wheel with Silvestre at his.
Mohs and Ahlstrand on a line behind Grosu
Coquard wins the 2018 Lisbon Classic in front of Van Stayen 2nd.
Demare takes the last podium in front of Degenkolb 4th, Kristoff 5th, Grosu 6th, Silvestre 7th and Mohs 8th.
Lisbon Classic 
