An interesting constellation with Delvaux probably lining up with two potential race favorites: Breen and Van der Haar amongst those, who combine climbing skills and cobbles in the best possible way. Ferreira, Kluge, Kulppi or Zhupa as other contenders, who at least ain't much worse on hills than Breen/VdH and less strong cobblers like Naesen or Thymides may actually hope for an upsetting result with the hills playing into their cards here.
The break of the day is quickly formed, as six riders went clear early into the race, establishing a 3-minutes gap soon:
Yzeiraj Savickas Aaltio Mancuso Quintero Mestric
The gap would peak at six minutes before the peloton would start to chase halfway through the race: Cerveceria, Delvaux and Rothaus as those teams sharing the work in the pursuit of the early break and the gap is down to 3 minutes with now 68km remaining.
Quintero with a moment of shock in the leading group, as he punctured on the uphill cobbles sector 'Michaelgate' in the heart of Lincoln. He's quickly re-joining the escaping group though. The same would happen to Aaltio later on, but just like Quintero, he's back in the leading group soon after the puncture!
31km to go now and the breakaway is just 59 seconds ahead with the pace in the pack being raised once again. Some first major splits in the bunch now, as only 31 riders built a first main group with another 72 riders building a second peloton:
McLay Keukeleire Vangenechten as the most notable names on the wrong side of the split!
At the front of the peloton, a group of 15 riders opens up a small gap on the other 16 riders - with Drucker going for a high pace now:
Drucker Kulppi Kluge Cominelli Jacobs Ferreira, Hacecky, Halvorsen, Vandenbergh Breen, Van der Haar, Eriksson, Grellier Zhupa Cancellara
This group with Drucker/Kluge/Breen catches up to the early break with 26km to go, making it a 21-men-group now..
The chasing group (12 riders now) ain't too far behind though, with Gatto, Grand and Hugentobler pulling the strings hard in order to close the gap! Also Breschel, Naesen or Verbist as part of this group, that is 45 seconds behind the big leading group.
And the group would indeed join the leading group a few moments later and just when it happened, we see the next attack at the front:
Kluge goes clear with now 23km (and two laps) to go!
Kluge opened up a notable gap quickly and he's 59 seconds ahead of the chasing group with now 16km to go:
Kulppi leading the chase at this point, where 25 riders are still part of the group! No one tried to follow Kluge on first hand, instead they are trying to work together and close the gap on the final lap then.
Most notable names being dropped at this point of the race:
Machado could not stay with the first group, he's a minute in arrears!
Taubel, Gatto Keukeleire Vangenechten are in the same group with Machado..
11km to the finish, a trio tries to go clear from the chasing group right after the penultimate cobbles sector:
Kluge still leading solo..
Zhupa Kulppi Drucker at 1.11
11 riders in the first chasing group now:
Grand Breen, De Bondt, Van der Haar Ferreira, Vandenbergh Jacobs Oba, Naesen Matsumoto Breschel
9km to the finish and Kluge holds on to a 58 seconds gap on the new chasing trio!
10 seconds further behind, the chasing group went into pieces again: De Bondt/Breen, Ferreira/Vandenbergh, Grand, Jacobs building a 6-men-group!
Van der Haar struggles to follow, he's 26 seconds in arrears..
..another group with Naesen, Oba and Breschel further 20 seconds.. a group with Cancellara/Cominelli/Machado another 31 seconds behind!
De Bondt with some outstanding work for Breen, as he caught group Drucker with this pacing at the front of the chasing group! Just 2.4km to go now and with the trio being caught and De Bondt still doing the pace, also Kluge lost time: he's now just 22 seconds ahead with the finish approaching!
Also Van der Haar managed to re-join the group, that is at 10 riders now:
De Bondt, Vandenbergh (working for their captains), Ferreira, Breen, Drucker, Zhupa, Kulppi, Jacobs, Grand, Van der Haar
Kluge enters the final kilometre with a 16 seconds advantage and he will soon enter the final short cobbles climb up "Michaelsgate"!
Drucker has now taken the leading position in the chasing group!
Breen and Van der Haar a few metres behind then..
Vandenbergh ahead of De Bondt, Zhupa, Ferreira, Kulppi and Jacobs/Grand as those at the back of the group..
The final 400metres, the final climb!
Drucker launched his sprint from a great position and he's catching up to Kluge with the superior speed now!
Breen and Van der Haar already a few seconds behind, but entering the final climb ahead of the others in the group..
Drucker easily went past Kluge, who can't counter his acceleration!
Breen has not yet managed to do the same, but he's catching up to Kluge as well now.. Van der Haar ahead of Zhupa, Ferreira and an exhausted Vandenbergh..
Kulppi, Jacobs and Grand fighting for the remaining Top-10 placements..
Drucker takes the win though and eventually, with quite a comfortable gap on the others! He managed to launch his strong sprint from a great position and even though his first attempt to go clear from the other contenders did not stick until the end, he kept cool to wait for the crucial final kilometre. Well played.
22 seconds later, Kluge narrowly held off Breen, who completes the podium! Kluge's attack looked promising for quite a while and while it's unlucky to get caught inside the final 300metres of the race, he still can be pleased with a runner-up result eventually. Breen might have hoped for more, but a podium ain't too bad afterall..
Zhupa finishes 4th ahead of Ferreira and Van der Haar, who adds further points for Delvaux that way. Good results for all of those riders inside the Top-6 (from a neutral point of view). Van der Haar with a nice effort to re-join the group after struggling soon after the penultimate cobbles sector!
35 seconds down on the winner, Jacobs crosses the line as a solid 7th..
Kulppi, Grand and Vandenbergh complete the Top-10! A nice team result for Rothaus with two in the Top-10, even though Ferreira did not shine as 5th on the day (still a decent result)..
De Bondt is rewarded with a nice 11th place after the hard work he did in the final lap!
Naesen comes in solo, finishing a decent 12th eventually..
Yzeiraj the strongest breakaway rider as 13th, finishing ahead of Breschel and Cominelli, who rounds up the Top-15 ahead of Mestric, Quintero, Matsumoto, Oba and Hugentobler.. Breschel can't be happy with this result, even though he did better than Machado (24th) or Vangenechten (26th). Our dark horse tip Thymides finished a quiet 33rd eventually. All riders finished within the time limit.
