Apologies for the green circles, I didn't know how to remove them when I did this race. It's fixed in later races.
Malopolski Wyscig
Welcome to Poland for the report of Malopolski Wyscig. The fact that you are already tuned in probably means you aren't much of a nightowl, as with over 250 kilometres to go, the riders have to start early!
Bewley as the main favourite by a long shot, followed by Summerhill and Senechal. All other riders will have to hope for an upset.
First attack of the day by Tharuka. Schreurs quickly follows him, as well as Giaux and Moulingui. Where did we hear that last name before?
Tharuka and Moulingui immediately drop the other two when the first cobbles arrive and stay ahead of them, at least for a while.
Just as I thought the four would re-unite, a mass attack from the pack, led by Ariesen, means the four riders may not become the break of the day after all..
Ariesen was the only one of this attack to stay away. Meanwhile, Schreurs got caught by the peloton. Wacky start of the race, but our four breakaway riders have now been confirmed:
Tharuka, Ariesen , Giaux
and Moulingui.
Meanwhile it's mainly Moser chasing, with a lot of other teams sending a rider to the front of the peloton, too. 8 minutes for the break with 170 kilometres to go.
And we've reached the first major climb of the race, 130 kilometres from the finish line. Nothing seemed to happen at the climb, but once riders have reached the downhills, some gaps were created! Two groups have formed, with the peloton around a minute behind. In the first group are:
Corwin Bewley Senechal Summerhill Kamyshev Baugnies Vanspeybrouck Vanbilsen Maes Stallaert Zepuntke Vanmarcke
and, for some reason, Tiller
It's interesting to see if they will work together, with so many kilometres to go, but if they do, it's a bad sign for Altur and Trentin, who are in the second group.
Even worse news for Spengler, as he's only in the front of the peloton!
The second group re-unites with the front group with the great help of Roosen. The peloton is over two minutes behind, though.
False alarm, eventually. The pack is back together.
Calm after the storm, then. We're now around 70km from the finish line, while the breakaway is about to get caught.
No attacks on the first of the final three hills, but in the aftermath, it's clear that some names were dropped. 46 riders in the first group, some of the most notable names dropped are:
Spengler, what a bad day from him... Bush Van Keirsbulck Albert.
Start of the third climb. Laporte leads the pack, while Carlsberg is positioned very well.
Immediately, Bewley attacks. Well, attacks.. He pulls a Cancellara and doesn't even get out of the saddle!
Senechal tries to follow. Summerhill leads the pack, and it looks like he tries to pull them back instead of joining them. Does he lack the punch today?
A bit further near the top, Senechal reaches Bewley, while Summerhill attacks. Maybe a bit too late, but better now than never.
But it was just in time to reach the first two riders! And over a minute on the peloton already!
Meanwhile, the peloton seems to have been split into two. But once again, it only happened in the aftermath of the climb. The main rider who has been dropped is Vanspeybrouck. Quite a surprise given his positioning before the climb. And judging by his position in the group, he's given up already. Nolf is still in the front group, though.
Also in this second group is outsider Gerts.
On the final cobbled section before the final climb, the siuation is as follows:
No real action on the final climb of the day, then. Altur leading the chase, though it's very hard to chase Bewley on the cobbles. The first three will have to do a sur place if they want to give up their lead in the remaining 10 kilometres.
And once again, the aftermeth of the climb decides the fate of three more riders. Maes, Zepuntke and Nolf have dropped from the chase group, which now consists of 8 riders. With two kilometres to go, the gap is closing, but it's still almost 20 seconds. We will need a serious jump from one of these riders if they want to reach the top three!
But the three up the pace, which makes it clear that no comeback will happen! The winner of this race will be either Bewley, Summerhill or Senechal. Bewley is ahead with 400 metres to go, and they all look incrdeibly tired after this long day. Will anyone even try to get out of his wheel?
The answer is no! Sam Bewley wins the first edition of Macopolski Wyscig in front of Danny Summerhill and Florian Senechal. A cobbled race in which the top 3 could've been predicted quite well, eventually.
Behind them, Baugnies is in pole position for 4th, while Stallaert is suffering.
However, Baugnies cracks a little, leaving a quite surprising 4th place for good old Burghardt. Altur and Vanmarcke end up in 6th and 7th.
Kamyshev, Trentin, Vanbilsen and Stallaert complete the top 10. Of those, Trentin will likely be the most unhappy.
Gerts makes a nice comeback for 11th, in front of Thomas, Nolf, Zepuntke and Maes.
Even further behind, Vanspeybrouck decided one good race per season is enough for him and finishes 18th. Two places in front of another small disappointment, Sprengler, who was positioned terribly twice but at least still tried to make the best of it during the rest of the race, it seems.
And that's it for this cobbled race in Poland, and least for another year! Thanks for tuning in!
Malopolski Wyscig
