The day has come in which we will be able to witness the 2018 Riga – Jurmala GP. 191,2 kilometers that are mostly flat, but with possible crosswinds as an exciting weather condition.
Bewley as the big favourite here, though with a lot of very good sprinters someone else winning shouldn't be that much as a surprise. Which is uncommon for him! The bookies regard Van Stayen and Holloway as his biggest competitors, though this amateur journalist thinks it's more up to riders like Swift, Ewan, Cavendish and Ciolek to beat him.
Right after the start, a breakaway attempt by seven riders:
Fritsch Oomen Walsleben Cruz Jones Oram Zordan
Quite a few teams with good sprinters trying to avoid relaying!
They're not allowed to leave, though. Moser prevented it from happening. Second attempt then: Van Aert, Orlov and Cheung.
Oram and Korsaeth try to bridge the gap. They have 30 seconds to close, and 20 seconds on the peloton, led by Netia.
Didn't happen, though. Which means we only have three riders in the break of the day!
Once again, the names:
Van Aert, Orlov and Cheung.
2'44 with 151 kilometers to go.
Many teams are joining the chase with about 100 kilometers to go and 4'57 for the breakaway. It's probably psychological; they want to show their sprinters that they believe in them.
With 50 kilometers to go it's Moser doing the most work at the front of the peloton. The breakaway isn't scary anymore though, only 2,5 minutes are left. They might have to slow down a bit, as catching the breakaway early may open the opportunities for a late attack...
And indeed Moser slows down a bit, even though they're still controlling the pace. Maybe a bit too much, though. The break still has 30 seconds until the 10km-border, a moment in which trains are usually being formed in this universe. Will this mean we're getting a messy sprint?
5 kilometers to go and the break still hasn't been caught, even though Orlov had to drop. Still no signs of trains behind Van Aert and Cheung!
4 kilometers to go and we're finally seeing some teams building a train. It's Aegon for Swift on the left and Podium Ambition for Ewan on the right. Kraftwerk is also assembling a train for their star Cavendish, though their riders still have to find each other's wheel.
Also important though, pre-race favourites Bewley, Van Stayen and Ciolek are quite far back and likely won't be starting the sprint in a good position!
2,6 kilometers then and we can see a major change: Kraftwerk has pulled themselves together and abuse the inside corner to be at the very front! Holloway smartly decided to join this train, while Podium Ambition (followed by Zabel) and Aegon have some catching up to do. Behind them, six (!) riders from Moser, but Bewley is only in the bottom right corner...
An overview:
Kreder
Willwohl
Cavendish
Holloway
Alaphilippe
Nelson
Ewan
Bauhaus
Zabel
Groenewegen
Polnicky
Swift
Turek
Mosca
Chen
Baska
Bewley
Dakteris
Boeckmans
Scully
Howard
All other sprinters seem to be out of contention for victory, but still have a shot at a top 10-spot. An exception may have to be made for Vantomme though, who failed to set up a train and is now eerily far behind.
1,5 kilometers to go. Aegon is storming up on the right and Saber was able to cling to Swift's wheel!
Under the red kite, Swift is launching his final sprint while Cavendish is still waiting. Holloway, Bewley and Ewan seem to be going for positions 3,4 and 5,but especially with Bewley you never know...
Actually, with Holloway you never know! He storms up and joins Cavendish and Swift for the grand finale with 500 meters to go! Swift went the earliest, Cavendish is still accelerating and Holloway currently has the highest speed. This will get close!
(Also, look at this screenshot. It's exactly like the Windows XP background )
200 meters, Cav couldn't pull ahead and has to worry about Bewley now. Swift is looking to take this one home. Will he?
Of course he will, I never doubted him! Swift wins the first edition of the Riga – Jurmala GP and gives his manager a breath of fresh air for their relegation battle!
Holloway surprises with the silver medal and shows a glimpse of his great results in the past. Cavendish also steps on the podium and he will be glad to hear that two of their leadout riders, did everything they could to score points for his team and ended up in 16th and 18th as well.
Bewley finishes 4th. A little bit disappoint for him, he couldn't join Swift and Cavendish while Holloway could. 5th place is for Van Stayen, who wasn't positioned too well but made a nice comeback.
Ewan, Boeckmans, Zabel, Howard and Kump close the top 10. In front of Bouhanni, Ciolek and Van Asbroeck. A massive disappointment for Ciolek who could've been expected to at least fight for a top 5-spot.As for the other two... Good, but not good enough?
Two more of the pre-race outsiders left to mention then: Saber only manages a 14th place, which would've been okay before the race but he was positioned very well. And Vantomme, who only barely managed to pass the leadout riders and ended up in 15th.
And with that we conclude the coverage of the Riga- Jurmala GP! A race that mostly went as expected, but with its ups and downs in the results. We hope to find back the actual planned race route and see you back on that terrain next season. Ciao!
Riga – Jurmala GP
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