The race in Philadelphia is about the begin and we have pretty windy conditions (between 30-40kmh) that add another challenge to the already tricky course. The famous "Wall" is featured in very lap through the city and with slopes up to 10% it surely favors those sprinters, who can handle ascents:
Van Asbroeck (runner-up in last year's edition) has to be considered a top favorite for this race and also Kreder, Roelandts, Holloway or Granjel Cabrera should be amongst the most promising sprinters. How will less talented climbers like Lo Cicero, Mohs or Appollonio perform? And will puncheurs like Anuar Aziz, Waeytens or Dowsett be a factor? With crosswinds blowing, also roleurs like Arashiro, Ignatiev, Feng or Tennant may fancy their chances either!
The break of the day is quickly formed here:
Lilovski Domene Young
Also Olesen, Ruijgh and Conci tried to join the trio, but could not stay clear from the peloton..
The breakaway's advantage on the peloton would peak at more than five minutes, but with now just 46km to go, it's down to 2'33" with several teams interestd in chasing the trio:
Azteca, Lierse, Repsol and Kraftwerk as the most active teams - looking in control so far with the crosswinds still at 42kmh at this point!
39km left in the race and the escaping group is two minutes ahead now:
Hansen attacks from the peloton!
Hansen is caught just three kilometres later though and the peloton keeps chasing the early break with a steady pace. The trio is just a minute ahead with now 19km to go:
Ignatiev as the next roleur trying his luck with an attack!
Opposing to Hansen, he manages to join the early break, where just Young and Lilovski are left though (Domene got swallowed by the pack a few moments before):
10.5km to go, we're in the final lap and the new leading trio with Ignatiev is just 11 seconds ahead of the peloton, where Lierse SK is working hard to pull him back!
Which they do soon after: 8.5km remaining and all escapees are reeled in by the pack, that has been reduced to just 55 riders after a major split in this final lap!
Bonifazio plays his roleur skills to perfection so far and his current pace pretty much destroys a big part of the pack and we notice several notable names being dropped in the meantime:
Lo Cicero as one of the latest riders, who can't hang on anymore..
..and almost a further minute behind, a big group (113 riders) with several sprinters and also puncheurs being dropped:
Guardini Bouhanni Rowe Lavoine Ulanowski Nelson Meyer Harrison
Anuar Aziz Dowsett Bystrom Mehr-Wenige Waeytens Dieteren Palini
For those guys (and several others, we can't count them all yet) the race is definitely over!
Back to the front, where it's a thrilling race with now just 7km to the finish:
Feng and Reckweg attack!
3.2km to go and the duo struggles to establish a bigger gap than just a couple of seconds, maybe:
Feng with another acceleration though!
Ignatiev now at the front of the small peloton (34 riders), trying to close the gap..
..other riders at the front are:
Kreder Mohs Navardauskas Kuznetsov Roelandts Van Asbroeck
The next notable names being dropped from the small main group: Haller and Itami!
Feng fights hard to stay clear, but with Reckweg now caught by Ignatiev, also Feng ain't really going too far yet.. 1.8km to the finish..
1.5km before the finish, not only Reckweg but also Feng can't stay clear from the main group anymore!
The situation at the front of this groups looks as follows:
Feng
Reckweg
Ignatiev
Kreder
Mohs
Navardauskas
Roelandts
Van Asbroeck
Redecker
Boonratanathanakorn
Arashiro
Granjel Cabrera
Bilbao
Kuznetsov, Kuboki and Riesebeek now catching up to Bilbao/Arashiro with just 900metres to go..
..at the front, Reckweg and Feng can't keep up with the other's pace now that they have launched the final sprint:
Navardauskas moving into the leading position as he enters the final corner into "The Wall"!
Roelandts, Van Asbroeck, Redecker and Granjel Cabrera in the best positions behind him..
Ignatiev, Kreder, Mohs and Boonratanathanakorn on the further positions ahead of Bilbao..
The first riders hit "The Wall" and it's just a couple of hundred metres from here on:
Navardauskas still in the lead, but Roelandts now with his attempt to go past him!
Redecker still going very strong, trying to hold off Van Asbroeck and Cabrera..
Ignatiev is done, but still ahead of Kreder and Mohs!
Roelandts easily goes past Navardauskas, who's still ahead of those others though!
Mohs now ahead of Kreder and Ignatiev..
..further behind, it's Booooon ahead of Kuznetsov, Reckweg, Feng, Arashiro/Kuboki and Bilbao.. a few more riders fighting for the Top-10/15/20 then..
Roelandts is the clear winner though! A perfect sprint from a good position and given the quite selective race with crosswinds as well, he definitely did well to avoid any troubles today.
Navardauskas with still a great 2nd place and clearly finishing ahead of the next trio..
Van Asbroeck sprints to the last podium spot, which certainly must have been his minimum goal after last year's runner-up. In such a tough race, a podium should be still considered a success, even though he missed out on the victory by quite a margin..
Redecker finishing a fantastic 4th ahead of Granjel Cabrera, who may be pleased with a Top-5 in this race..
Kreder could not compete with the very best of the day, but finishes a still solid 6th eventually..
Mohs and Ignatiev with a good team result for Fablok!
Boonratanathanakorn and Reckweg complete the Top-10: a huge effort by Reckweg, who got soon after his late attack and who just might have saved some more energy than Feng (who fought longer to stay clear)!
Kuznetsov a solid 11th ahead of Kuboki/Arashiro, Bilbao and Feng.. Holloway has to settle for a 16th place ahead of Riesebeek, William Ford, Hansen and Smukulis.
Appollonio got dropped from the main group close to the finish (31st eventually)..
