Note: Ahlstrand rode this first stage with the wrong jersey. He won't be wearing the same one in the remaining three stages, though. Sorry for having noticed late.
Barbados Cycling Festival
Stage 1: Flat, 218.9km
Profile:
Spoiler
Welcome to today's first - and longest - stage of the 2019 edition of the Barbados Cycling Festival! The riders will have to cover almost 220km - whose legs will be fresh enough to win the final sprint after this distance?
Even though there are some hills in the second quarter of the race, there is no KoM sprint today. And as they're more than 100km from the finish line, we'll likely see a bunch sprint today. Remember these words - you'll find them in a similar way the next three days as well.
But there will still be an intermediate sprint, after 146.6km. As the race doesn't have any noteworthy difficulties, and no ITT either, these bonus seconds could be really useful to gain some positions.
We do have some beautiful weather here in Barbados today, and almost no wind. There is a little bit of it, and it will be headwind for most of the stage, but with 6km/h it shouldn't be a big deal.
The race is about to be started, but let's just take a quick look at the bookies' favorites before: Degenkolb, Coquard and Swift are without any surprise the ones with the lowest odds today, followed by the local team's leader Ewan, Ahlstrand and Kennaugh. Qatar winner Grosu, Vanderbiest and former winners Guerao and Cavendish complete this Top 10 list.
And now, let's jump straight into the race action!
This action starts after about 2 kilometers, with Van Winden, Landa, Gesbert and Naud attacking...
...pursued by Smit,...
... Mosca and Bax.
Is it EA Vesuvio attacking with 3 riders, or another unpleasant constellation that makes the sprinter teams react? All we know is that Seigle, Kopfauf, Ludvigsson, Arashiro and Ioannidis have upped the pace now. For the moment, it's just a few seconds between each of the groups.
But as soon as Mosca and Bax are reeled in, the pace drops. So we still have 5 riders ahead, with Smit still 40" behind the leaders.
Apparently, EA Vesuvio absolutely wants to get a third rider in the breakaway, as Girdlestone accelerates. But he doesn't even get a gap, as Tolhoek is very attentive.
The South African abandons his attack, and so the pack's deficit stabilizes at about one minute. Smit is still 30" down on the leaders.
But here he is; after roughly 35km, the Breakaway of the Day seems to be complete. Although they shouldn't really have a big chance to succeed today, let's still take a look at their strengths and weaknesses: Smit isn't a great sprinter, but still the best of the group. Plus, he's the one with the best acceleration and stamina - and he has a teammate by his side. Gesbert therefore will probably have to work for him. Naud is the best flat rider in the group and will hope to just ride too fast for the others. This may hold for Van Winden, too, whereas Landa is no good sprinter and no good flat rider - he'll have to hope that the bumps on the final kilometers are harder than they look like on the profile.
The gap gets bigger and reaches 5 minutes with 150km to go. In the peloton, it's the sprinter teams doing the work: Podium Ambition, eBuddy, Carrefour, Air France, Kraftwerkand Duolingo, whereas Festina, Aker, Iberia and Volvo only take turns occasionally.
100km to go, and the peloton is still led by the sprinter teams: Volvo, eBuddy, Carrefour, Aker and home team Podium Ambition.
The gap has shrinked a bit and is now down to 3'21.
There's not been a lot of action in the last 30km, so let's directly jump to the intermediate sprint, won by Smit:
1. Smit - 6
2. Landa - 4
3. Naud - 2
The peloton is 3'08 back at this point, with Volvo now being well represented at the front of the pack. 70km to go.
We still have almost the same images with 40km to go. Podium Ambition ( Novardianto, Postlberger, Alaphilippe, Cataford) and Volvo ( Tiller, Halvorsen, Ludvigsson, Campenaerts) chasing with four riders each, eBuddy ( Tolhoek, Goldstein) with two men.
Only 2'07 remaining with 50km to go.
30km remaining for the leaders, and the pack's deficit is down to just slightly more than one minute. But at least, these five are still working together, at least keeping their tiny chances intact.
We've already reached the 20km mark, and to the local fans' delight, Podium Ambition is now going really hard, still supported by Volvo and eBuddy.
In the leading group, Naud is just attacking his companions - will he be able to go until the end? The pack is less than a minute down, so this will be really hard!
But as we spot this split in the bunch, there's yet another question: can the second group - containing important leadouts such as Colbrelli, Page, Aregger, Tzortzakis, Merino Criado or Avila - come back again?
Naud has been caught again, and now it's Smit trying to take advantage of EA Vesuvio's numerical advantage.
However, the peloton is just 30" back now, and his task seems to be close to impossible to achieve!
As he passes the 10km banner, Smit has almost been caught by the remaining quartet. With the peloton approaching quickly now, the breakaway attempt seems to be doomed anyway.
At the 5km mark, Stenersen has almost completed the pursuers' job, but the escapees still resist, keeping a tiny advantage!
Not for long, though, as Goldstein does the final bit of work shortly after. We're definitely set for a great sprint now!
With 3 kilometers remaining, Goldstein and Stenersen have done their job, and Novardianto takes over for Podium Ambition, followed by Alaphilippe and Ewan. No Nelson yet - will he come to the front later, or have they somehow messed up their train?
Boeckmans, Cavendish, Zabel and Guardini then are lined up behind them, with Groenewegen, Kennaugh, Grosu, Avelino, Guerao and Vanderbiest in the next two rows. Coquard, Degenkolb and Swift - the three top favorites - are a bit further back, as are Ahlstrand, Kip, Vantomme or Nizzolo.
2 kilometers left, and the Podium Ambition train still moves at high speed! Novardianto has done an excellent job, as can be seen by the long line of sprinters and the size of the remaining peloton! Alaphilippe takes over now.
On the side of the road, eBuddy has now managed to get a train as well, consisting of Lammertink, Brus and Grosu, while Kennaugh has taken the Romanian's wheel.
Behind Ewan, we see still Boeckmans, Cavendish, Zabel and Guardini, with Avelino, Guerao, Groenewegen, Ahlstrand, Coquard, Vanderbiest, Degenkolb and Swift just behind.
We're under the red kite now, and the eBuddy guys have now passed Podium Ambition! Have they messed up with their timing? Anyway, let's take a look at the situation in the first positions:
Brus
Grosu
Alaphilippe
Kennaugh
Ewan
Ahlstrand
Boeckmans
Cavendish
Zabel
Avelino
Guardini
Groenewegen
Silvestre
Lammertink
Coquard
Brandao
Markus
Degenkolb
Vanderbiest, Swift, Guerao and others are probably too far back now!
700m remaining, and the final leadouts are gone - all sprinters are on their own now!
And right now, Kennaugh and Grosu are in the best positions, ahead of Ahlstrand and Ewan. Cavendish then has closed in on Boeckmans, whereas Zabel and Avelino still are about level. Guardini seems to struggle to keep up with the rest!
Groenewegen, Coquard, Silvestre and Degenkolb had a late start, but are now closing in fast!
It's getting closer now, with just 500 meters to go! Kennaugh now has a slight edge over Grosu, Ahlstrand and Ewan, but Cavendish and Boeckmans haven't given up yet! Zabel, Avelino and Guardini are still chased by Groenewegen and Coquard, who aren't really getting closer now though.
Thanks to the wide road, six riders now seem to be in contention for the win with 300m to go! From left to right: Ewan, Boeckmans, Grosu, Cavendish, Ahlstrand and Kennaugh, with the latter still being slightly ahead!
Whereas Avelino might use the opening right ahead of him, Zabel and Guardini might not find their way through this line of riders now.
The remaining sprinters - including stage favorites Coquard, Degenkolb, Vanderbiest and Guerao - seem to be fighting for a rather disappointing 10th place only.
Oh well, do you want to make a bet with 200m remaining? Kennaugh still seems to be the leader, but very, very closely followed by Ahlstrand, Grosu, Cavendish and Ewan; Boeckmans not being far behind either. Or can Avelino upset them all with a great final acceleration?
It's still six in a line with just 100 meters to the line! Ahlstrand seems to be slightly behind now, just as Boeckmans, but they still have all their chances! But the Swede has now closed the opening for Avelino, who seems to be boxed in as well, just as Zabel and Guardini.
Groenewegen, Coquard, Degenkolb and Silvestre are the ones fighting for 10th - or more?
We're on the final meters, and it's still impossible to say who will win this one! It seems like Cavendish has taken the lead now, but the others are still really close! Can the home crowd cheer Ewan to the win?
Well, we can't say yet, as the judges have immediately announced a photo finish review! They will have to decide on the stage podium between Mark Cavendish, Kris Boeckmans and Caleb Ewan, whereas Peter Kennaugh and Eduard Grosu seem to be taking 4th and 5th - but in which order?
Jonas Ahlstrand has slightly faded in the end, therefore taking "just" 6th.
And it's close again between Oscar Avelino and Rick Zabel, with the Portuguese edging out the German for 7th. Andrea Guardini takes 9th.
Dylan Groenewegen then takes today's last Top 10 spot, ahead of the disappointing stage top favorites Coquard and Degenkolb, who edges out Silvestre on the line.
Guerao then wins the sprint of the main bunch for P14. He simply had a really bad position and could not compete for the top spots, as many others. Next are Jans, Oss (yes, indeed), Vanderbiest and Arashiro.
And here comes Nelson, the man who should have led out the sprint for his leader. Swift takes the last spot in the Top 20 - what a bummer for his team!
While the judges are still reviewing the pictures from the line, let's analyze a bit what we've seen today. The late catch of the breakaway obviously made it hard for the teams to get their sprints working, so we only had two of them. Both sprinters finally are in the stage Top 5, so that definitely was a good thing.
Then, we could see that the teams of the top favorites - Festina, Aker and Iberia - did almost no work on the final 20 kilometers. This might have been one reason for not getting a working train, but certainly is no excuse for their sprinters being badly positioned. They definitely will have to improve on this!
And - we got an incredibly close finale, with 6 sprinters in the fight for glory until the end! As the judges decided to award 4th to Eduard Grosu and 5th to Peter Kennaugh, we now know the places 4 to 6. But - who has actually taken the win? The victory ceremony is about to start, so let's find out!
It's getting incredibly loud out here, as Caleb Ewan makes his appearance on the podium! He is today's stage winner, ahead of former race winner Mark Cavendish and Kris Boeckmans! What a start for the home team!
Of course, we don't see him just once, but he takes the GC, points and U25 jerseys as well - and as Podium Ambition is leading the team standings, it's really a total triumph today! What a great day for the Barbadian team! Will they even be able to hold on to the lead until the end? The next stages will show - and it surely will be a brutal fight!
And by the way - no gaps were awarded, the distanced group was able to get close enough for the generous judges.
Barbados Cycling Festival 
