Stage 1 - Macclesfield > Bollington The first stage may already be the toughest: 25.5km of cobbles, 30.5km of climbing - the flat rated stage comes with an undulating route and several cobbled climbs, that should make for a really tough race today. Surely any GC contender needs to be at the front today and to handle climbs, should be a good thing:
Vanspeybrouck, Baugnies, David, Theuns and Van Keirsbulck as the best punchy cobblers.. Zepuntke, Vanbilsen, Burghardt ain't much worse though. Blythe may suffer, if the climbs appear to be decisive and also other local heroes like Thomas, Fenn and Bush do not like to go uphill.. Saber, Van Asbroeck, Rowe as those cobbles sprinters, who may want to limit the damage as well.
Two riders go clear right from the start of the stage and no one is able to join them:
Grashev Russo
Russo takes the two early intermediate sprints, Ulanowski as the only sprinter interested in minor points and going for 4pts towards the points classification that way..
Grashev took the first mountain sprint of the day, but Russo takes the next two quite easily..
The peloton started to chase halfway through the stage and it's Lierse SK setting the pace at the front of the pack. Rather surprisingly, Van Asbroeck in the leading position already - will he just work for Vanbilsen today?
With now 66km to go, the current pace has already make the pack go into pieces: 65 riders are left in the main group, that is 3'25" behind the leading duo..
Most notable names being dropped:
Vantomme as the latest rider being dropped..
Sinkeldam Nolf Kragh Andersen Peeters De Haes
Nolf and Sinkeldam with quite a shocking 5 minutes behind the pack! Hard to say, what happened here. Several punctures today, but they seem to be working for Kragh Andersen on first hand..
43km to go and the main group keeps going into further pieces with still Lierse setting pace and narrowing the gap to the leading duo to just 1'31" in the meantime! Verhelst and also Van Asbroeck as the main pace setters, the peloton has been reduced to just 28 riders now:
Van Keirsbulck and David could not hang on anymore! They are quickly a minute behind the main group and that's devastating news for two of the better punchy cobblers here!
Bolivar Kasperkiewicz Matthews in the same group as David and VK..
Fenn Thwaites a further minute behind!
Russo keeps collecting points towards the KoM classification, as he beats Grashev at the fourth sprint of the day..
..the main chasing group keeps getting smaller on those cobbles and climbs, just 21 riders left:
Bush and Joseph are dropped 39km before the finish!
Van Asbroeck further 35 seconds in arrears! He surprisingly did the work in the chase today and that will obviously hurt his own ambitiouns for a notable GC result. He's totally exhausted with still such a long way to go!
We're jumping straight into the final 20km of the stage, where Russo takes the final mountain sprint up the iconic "Swiss Hill" 18.8km before the finish. Grashev really struggles to follow now and so Russo goes clear with the main group still 1'50" in arrears!
Provisional KoM Russo 25, Grashev 19, Van Asbroeck 2
And the hard work from Lierse SK makes sense, now that Vanbilsen goes clear from the main group with 13km remaining! He managed to establish a notable gap just after the Swiss Hill and he quickly goes past Grashev as well.
50 seconds behind Russo now, Vanbilsen is already 52 seconds ahead of the main group!
11.5km to go and behind Vanbilsen, a chasing group with 14 riders has formed:
Moulingui Marcos Breen Zepuntke Baugnies Blythe Feng Albert Vanspeybrouck Vermote Langeveld Per Saber
The gap to Vanbilsen has grown to 1'22" though!
Burghardt further 38 seconds in arrears..
Theuns Holloway Debesay forming a next group, that is one minute behind group Blythe!
Vanbilsen caught up to Russo 9km before the finish and he easily drops the early escapee with now just 6km to go!
Vanbilsen going strong so far and he's still more than a minute ahead of the group of other GC contenders..
..where two riders go clear 6km before the finish:
Baugnies and Breen on the attack!
The duo quickly went past Russo and narrowed the gap to Vanbilsen to 47 seconds with now about 5km to the finish..
Blythe and Feng as the next riders attacking from the main group, trying to follow Baugnies/Breen, who are 34 seconds ahead though!
Blythe/Feng quickly caught up to Russo, but they are still about 40 seconds behind Baugnies/Breen and 1'17" behind Vanbilsen with now 4km to go!
A few more riders attacked from the former main group and they are not far behind group Blythe/Feng:
Per with a fantastic job for Saber Langeveld Vanspeybrouck
A next duo with Rowe and Vermote 24 seconds behind..
Zepuntke as part of 5-men-group further 13 seconds in arrears!
Vanbilsen has passed the penultimate cobbles sector and he's now just 24 seconds ahead of Baugnies with 2.3km to go!
Breen struggles to follow Baugnies' latest acceleration:
Breend half a minute ahead of Blythe/Feng and then there's Per/Saber trying to get rid off Vanspeybrouck, Langeveld and Russo! What a huge performance by Per, who seems to bring Saber into a quite promising GC position today!
Vanbilsen enters the final climb up 'Beeston Brow' and Baugnies managed to catch up to the solo leader with now just 900metres to go! A great effort from Baugnies and the duo is now 38 seconds ahead of Breen..
..who's now just a few seconds ahead of the next riders:
Feng attacks just when group Per/Saber and also Vanspeybrouck caught up to Blythe and himself!
Russo (unsurprisingly) got dropped and he's quickly 48 seconds in arrears, but still ahead of a group with Zepuntke, Rowe, Albert and Vermote..
Feng with a great performance so far and his attack goes strong: he quickly catches up to Breen with Vanbilsen and Baugnies still a few seconds ahead though!
Baugnies now ahead of Vanbilsen and despite not capable to launch a proper sprint, he seems to be the fastest of this duo with now just 300metres to go!
Feng and Breen 23 seconds behind.. group Blythe/Saber/Vanspeybrouck further 24 seconds in arrears..
Baugnies indeed takes the stage then! A huge performance to bridge across a strong looking solo leader and to go for the first crucial stage win here..
+ 6" for Vanbilsen, who should be happy with the result nevertheless..
+ 21" Feng, who really delivered a big result with Bush struggling big time!
+ 33" Breen - a great result as well..
+ 37" Saber
+ 46" Per and obviously a huge performance for both
+ 50" Blythe as a solid 7th on this tough day
+ 54" Langeveld and Vanspeybrouck
+ 1'59" for Russo, who completes the Top-10 for a great result
+ 2'33" Zepuntke - a rather disappointing big gap to Baugnies
A group with Rowe and Burghardt finishing a few seconds later..
+ 5'44" for a quite strong Holloway
+ 5'51" for a disappointing Theuns
+ 6'57" for Van Keirsbulck, who adds another bad result to his difficult season..
David, Van Asbroeck, Bush as part of a next group losing more than 8 minutes eventually. A shocking result for David in particular, as those hills should have suited him..
Quite a shocker for Carlsberg later on then:
Nolf somehow managed to DNF the stage, alongside Kragh Andersen!
Also Riesebeek surprisingly amongst those few riders, who did not make the time limit eventually..
Baugnies celebrating a crucial stage win ahead of Vanbilsen and a strong Feng.. Breen, Saber, Peer, Blythe, Langeveld and Vanspeybrouck not too far behind though and with three flat stages to come, Saber definitely delivered a great result today and he may fancy to gain bonifications through sprint results now.
