Not the hardest race on the calendar, but definitely one of the toughest non-PT startlists of the season. Should be an interesting race to follow.
Favourites
FLA
HIL
STA
RES
COB
SPR
ACC
Summerhill
78
73
76
72
83
70
73
Vanspeybrouck
76
71
78
71
82
67
69
Zepuntke
72
69
79
72
81
72
65
Stallaert
77
67
76
68
81
79
76
Spengler
74
64
72
73
82
61
70
Vanbilsen
78
69
80
74
80
72
71
Baugnies
78
72
80
73
80
65
73
Nolf
74
66
77
72
80
63
71
Kasperkiewicz
74
73
73
75
79
59
66
Ferreira
73
68
74
70
79
71
69
Van Keirsbulck
72
71
75
73
78
70
68
Breen
77
70
72
72
78
73
72
Debesay
75
74
75
79
77
69
78
It's raining as we get underway in Mons.
Quite a bit of confusion at the start, as the peloton would try to limit the size of the break. Three riders would head out first, and be allowed to build a gap. After that, multiple breakaway attempts, ranging from two riders to as many as thirteen riders, tried but failed to join the earlier attackers.
The dust settled with seven more riders joining the earlier trio and forming a ten rider break consisting of Van der Velde, Martins Sandoval, Esmaeli (initial attackers), Schar, Barthe, Boev, Changpad, Mraouni, Rocchetti and Abelouche.
However, the peloton would soon change their mind and catch this break too! It was all square in the race with 25 km gone by.
Another, 10 km later, and finally the break of the day forms with six riders:
Habtom Kozhatayev Russo Van Poppel Jans Van Hoecke
They pass the triple hills in the first half of the course with a lead of 4'29" on the pack.
Kluge and Bolivar attack from the pack, and they now have a minute's buffer over the latter. They're still over 2 minutes behind the lead group.
Behind, Kosic punctured, but he would make it back.
The pack starts to drop riders as they pass the first few cobbled sections.
70 km to go. The teams of usual suspects lead the chase. Andorra, Volvo, Carlsberg, Kulczyk and Lierse are all contributing to the pace-making.
Kluge is caught 10 km later.
We're on the 9th cobbles section. The break leads by 2'31" over the peloton and by 1'34" over Bolivar. 60 km remain.
Feng punctures in the pack but recovers.
Bolivar is caught with 48 km to go.
33 km. Van Poppel attacks from the break. The peloton are closing in behind.
The peloton sheds it's first big group 5 km later. All favourites still in the pack though.
Baugnies accelerates as we enter the final 25 kilometers.
Up ahead, Van Poppel has been caught as the break continue to lose their lead to the peloton.
Baugnies is caught soon after.
Jans attacks the break, trying to put in one last effort of resistance.
It doesn't work, as the break, Jans included, is caught with 17 km remaining.
5 riders - Vanbilsen, Summerhill, Vanspeybrouck, Zepuntke and Nolf - attack 2 km later.
Summerhill attacks again as the rest are caught. The peloton is down to just 32 riders.
Rowe, Broers, Gaudin, Machado, Ostergaard, Kosic, Van Asbroeck, Tsatevich, Flaksis and Lhotellerie, among others, are in the next group.
Summerhill is caught with 7 km left, after a lot of fervent chasing. The lead group has only has 19 riders remaining. All the pre-race favourites are still here.
The next group on the road consists of Orue, Joseph, Sinkeldam, Kumara and Kvist. Dropped recently, they're trying to make it back. Albert is now in the Rowe group further behind.
Five more riders dropped now - Debesay, Bush, Van der Haar, Boeckmans and Lobato del Valle. They're about to be caught by the Orue group.
Vanbilsen with a powerful attack with 4 km remaining.
The gap increases to the chasing pack over the final cobbled section. It now stands at 25 seconds.
Vanbilsen maintains his rhythm as we enter the final kilometer.
Stallaert attacks from the pack, and Breen tries to tag along.
Stallaert makes up a lot of ground, as Vanbilsen looks to have slowed up a bit.
The peloton increases in size again to 16 riders as Debesay and a couple of others make it back.
Stallaert catches Vanbilsen with 300 meters left. The latter speeds up again just as the Volvo rider was looking to sneak past. Was the former playing possum all along?
A recovering Debesay leads the sprint in the pack. Van Keirsbulck chasing, with Bohli on the former's wheel.
It's still neck and neck with 200 meters left. Stallaert has the slight uphill advantage, which is how this stage ends.
Stallaert is past in the next 100 meters. Vanbilsen has no answer, and is visibly tired.
Behind, Debesay has a clear lead for 3rd.
Stallaert wins Le Samyn! Vanbilsen is 2nd, a perhaps a little unlucky with that result. His solo effort in the closing kilometers meant he had nothing left in the finishing sprint.
Behind, Debesay is done! Another rider suffering from a mis-timed move here. Summerhill and Bohli move through the middle. Breen doing the same on the far side.
Breen moves into 3rd. It's a very close race for 4th!
Ferreira is coming through with half a kilometer to go. It is so bad for Debesay that he's now falling out of the Top 10 fight!
Breen holds on for the final podium spot ahead of a charging Ferreira.
Bohli pips Summerhill for 5th.
Baugnies claims 7th with Van Keirsbulck 8th.
Nolf and Maes complete the Top 10.
Next through is Kasperkiewicz, Vanspeybrouck and Bush.
A struggling, and hard-done Debesay manages just 14th in the end. Spengler will also be disappointed with just a 15th place finish.
Today's winner - Joeri Stallaert.
Stallaert puts a disastrous De Panne behind and wins the second edition of Le Samyn. Vanbilsen put in the decisive move, but just fell short in the end. A top result nonetheless, to follow up his win in Roma Maxima. A great podium result for Breen, in what was a very strong startlist will make his team very happy.
