The sports new have been preparing for this for some time, huge amount of Belgian as well as international media, now gathered in Oudenaarde to cover everything regarding “De Ronde”, hotels are full to the breaking point, restaurants and bars have been crowded for several night all over the two provinces of Flanders, but this morning you sense a calm before the storm.
It is a nice spring day 17°C with only a few clouds, some of the most cynical spectators may regret the lack of rain, but they will welcome the fact that we get a lot of wind, in the region of 30 km/h.
The Race (P1) Morning
Brugge to Eine (Doorn)
We are still in the “capital” of West Flanders, when Silva opens the race. Kortsidakis and Kung alert and immediately in his slipstream.
Rathe missed the first move, but he accelerates soon after, and a group of four led by Tarvis also in the pursuit.
In this group also Ganna, Varga and Kalf
As you may expect in a race like Vlaanderen, there are so many riders with no real possibility staying in the pack, so the attacks continue, this time Kaislavuo in front of Budenieks and Van Aert
We are not yet out of Brugge, but we already see the first riders simply not able to keep up with the hectic pace that is always a result of the nervous start in the monuments. Ginanni and Kenyeres 1’40” behind the pack, Uwizeyimana a few seconds further back, there are no reports of technical difficulties.
The pace in the pack first set by Sosnitskiy, later McKenna and Trakhov upped the pace some, the two riders sharing the workload and lately also Smirnovs joined the pursuit.
Rathe have joined the leading trio they got 1’26” to the pack. Tarvis, Ganna, Varga, Kalf, Kaislavuo Budenieks and Van Aert in the pursuit just 14” behind the four leaders after some 20 km on the road.
Kenyeres, Uwizeyimana and Ginanni found their way back to the pack, Ginanni soon took the ride through the pack and is now taking part in the work at the front joining McKenna and Trakhov.
After about 24 km the 11 riders in front have gathered in one large group, right now fronted by Silva, they got 1’02”
G. Martin joins the paceline in the pack and also Smirnovs starts working again, seems the teams in the pack do not approve of the size of the breakaway, the distance is decreasing fast and the peloton have visual contact now, not looking good for the 11 riders having invested so much in this break.
The breakaway is not ready to toss the towel in the ring just yet; it will be another hard fought 10 km before it is definitely over for the original morning break.
We got 230 km left and all 192 riders are again together.
It is not time for lunch though, less that one km and we got a new acceleration, Van Aert on the move again.
With no reaction from the pack also Ganna try again with De Buyst at wheel.
De Buyst being quite a strong card in a breakaway at a profile like this one, if they get a sizable gap.
Cavagna accelerates but the pack is at his wheel right away, most likely to important to be allowed to go. After that the pack is still fronted by Smirnovs, McKenna and other riders we have seen before, but for now at a moderate pace.
Top puncher McCarthy accelerating. At this point the leading rider has 1’22” to the peloton.
The pack still riding at a moderate pace around 30 km/h, allowing the gap to get close to 2 minutes over the next 3 km, then we see another acceleration, this time van der Poel.
Just like De Buyst a strong rider for a race like this.
It seems that the current breakaway, will be contend with this addition to their combined strength as they are not very fast, allowing van der Poel to catch to over just 2 km.
221.5 km left peloton at 1’57”, there is just 6.5 km left before the breakaway will hit todays first challenge Nokereberg.
The breakaway hits the first cobbled sector Nokereberg, the cobbled sector is just 100 meters, the climb is 350 m with a slope of 5.7% maxing out at 7%.
At sector like this have no visual impact on the riders and both the breakaway and the pack also passes with no casualties and in their existing paceline. We know though that every sector and hill will add to the combined wear and tear of the riders.
Pack at 3’38” when they hit Nokereberg.
The next difficulty is Huisepontweg coming up about 4 km later, 1.4 km of hard cobbles on a relative flat road, Ganna leads the breakaway trough the village center of Wannegem, they got 3’45 to the pack.
Oh Shit, the camera bike have stopped at the road side to film a rider, one km down Huisepontweg. It is Van Aert with the first reported mechanical, must be waiting for his team car so supply him with a new wheel.
Van Aert is clearly frustrated as it takes almost one and a half minute fixing his problem.
In the pack Belgasem leads over Huisepontweg, the importance of a longer section like this shows in the fact that several team leaders have now positioned closer to the paceline.
Vanmarcke by the side of the last riders in the paceline, Bewley with a domestic right behind the line, Trentin right behind Bewley. Daniel, Gerts and Van Avermaet also close.
At this point no riders dropped and the breakaway also increasing the distance little by little to indicate that the pace in the pack is relaxed.
No time to relax though, even without a brutal pace you just have to stay focused at De Ronde, there is just some 3 km to the next challenge “Doorn”, a 1.7 km flat cobbled section, not to mention that we got winds right now at 45 km/h, with a risk of breaks happening every time we move into a crosswind sector.
The four riders left in the breakaway hit Doorn with 4’12”, Van Aert still need to close 1’13” to rejoin.
Unbelievable 208 km left, it is no wonder everyone attempts to save as much energy as possible without risking too much.
Belgasem continues to lead the pack also over the asphalt road between the two cobbled sectors, Pack at 4’25, Van Aert at 1’24” when the pack enter Doorn
Then we see what many cycling fans have been waiting for and many riders have feared. Bewley moves to the front, not for long just taking one single turn, it is more like a show of power than a serious acceleration. Never the less 9 of the weaker cobblers dropped.
Baska moves forward to take the lead in front of Bewley, the pack starts to breathe again.
We got a cross/headwind of 45 km/h so reason enough to stay alert and move forward after this taste of what may come.
The surface of Doorn is very difficult and hard on the equipment, some are just dropped by the increased pace set by Baska on this long section of cobbles, but we also see veteran tempo specialist Tony Martin call for help while a distanced teammate passes.
Martin is not the only one, more importantly in the context of this race also Kamyshev standing at the side of the road, while he see rider after rider passing.
Kamyshev lucky though he did not drop far back, maybe he got a wheel from a teammate we don’t know but he was able to stay with the pack without wasting energy catching up.
20 riders have been dropped as we are back on the Asphalt roads in Eine, that may not seem to be many, but just to get an impression of how difficult the conditions is if you are dropped and face time alone on this course, Uwizeyimana whom we already saw in difficulties back in Brugge is now at 10’48” with Kenyeres even further back, all that time lost mainly on the 1.7 km cobbled Doorn.
TIME TO TAKE A BREAK AND GO TO COMMERSIALS -
BE BACK SOON
Thanks to Leon40 and Jandal for the race map that I found in last season’s report
Welcome back to the 2nd part of our coverage, before the commercial break we saw a 11 riders morning breakaway, hunted down mainly by Evonik, Moser and Tinkoff, we saw a new 5 riders breakaway form and the unlucky Van Aert with a mechanical now sitting in nowhere land between the break and the pack, and finally we saw Moser push on the latest cobbled sector beginning to hurt the weaker riders.
The Race (P2) Around Midday
Eine (Doorn) to Steenbeekdries
As mentioned before the commercial break, the next challenge facing the riders will be Molenberg, the workload in the pack provided by Belgasem, Serebriakov, Powless and McKenna on the section leading up to the cobbled climb. The pack is not too worried about a breakaway this size and the distance are still growing.
Rather strong on the asphalt Van Aert has rejoined the leading group.
The breakaway enter Molenberg with 4’54”, the cobbled part is 200 m and the climb is 339 m at 7% with a max slope of 14.2%, 193.5 km left before we reach Oudenaarde.
The pack takes it easy, gap is still growing and also distance riders are beginning to catch up from behind, with McKenna taking the lead on the cobbled hill.
After the climb we see Moser – Sygic, Evonik - ELKO and Team Tinkoff posting a lot of riders at the front or near the front, but the pace does not increase significantly and it seems to be more about watching each other and staying safe in case we should see a crosswind attack on the 10 km of open asphalt road leading up to cobbled Lippenhovestraat, as we still has winds above 30 km/h.
In fact we got a double flat cobbled sector coming up as there are under one km between the 600 meters cobbles at Lippenhovestraat and brutal 2.6 km cobbles at Paddestraat
The breakaway enters Paddestraat with 5’49” seemingly very composed and willing to work together.
In the peloton it is still the usual suspects leading on the two cobbled sectors, Sosnitskiy, Smirnovs and McKenna, but they might have upped the pace a little as we see quite a lot of rider dropping, 27 riders are now at 2’33” or further behind the bunch.
And what is this? Very far back at the rear end of the pack, Kulczyk – Alitalia’s lieutenant Drucker seemingly in difficulties on the asphalt paved hill Slijpstraat-Kortendries right after Paddestraat.
Next up is Berg Hostellerie, in this edition of the race it is ridden as a downhill cobbled sector after Slijpstraat, 700 meters of cobbles.
The breakaway is still gaining time on the pack entering the sector at 6’19”, De Buyst lead the group on the cobbles, while McCarthy is occupied by his team radio, could it be a sigh that team leader Zhupa could be in difficulties?
Smirnovs may usually not be the best to tackle the cobbles, but he is an outstanding rider downhill, and he uses it at Hostellerie, hammering downhill on the stones. There seems to be a small split, it may or may not be closed on the upcoming 6.5 km of asphalt before Haaghoek, but it is undulated 6.5 km.
Anyway interesting to see who is here and who is not, order of top cobblers in front of the split: Bewley, Blythe, Senechal, Baugnies, Kamyshev, Vanbilsen, Vanmarcke, Wisniowski, Altur, Trentin, Daniel, Van Avermaet, David, Gerts, Theuns, Kristoff
We don’t know where these rider are but not in front of the split. Teunissen, Zubov, Sulimov, Ringheim, Lampaert, Thomas, Taillefour, Puccio, Polanc, Burghardt, Boros, Declerq, Pedersen, Insausti, Zhupa and Per
Entering the 1.9 km cobbled Haaghoek the breakaway has lost a little, it is only 20 seconds so far but they won’t like to get this message with 168 km left, De Buyst still leading the group on the stones.
Unstoppable Smirnovs leads the pack over Haaghoek. Even though the pace is not extreme the pack is stretched quite long, getting more and more dangerous sitting to far behind the top favorites, that said the previously mentioned split have been closed and we must expect that all top cobblers are somewhere in the pack.
Cominelli with a puncture.
There is status quo over the cobbles after the pack has passed also exactly 6’00”.
After Haaghoek we are entering about 15 km without cobbled sectors, instead we will be passing three steep hills Valkenberg, Berendries and Elverenberg before we reach the cobbles again.
McKenna and especially Powless upping the pace over the climbs quickly cutting 30 seconds of the breakaway lead, Smirnovs leading on the 1.2 km cobbled Bontestraat.
Right after Bontestraat we got Eikenmolen, 610 meters asphalt climb with an average of 5.9% including a 12.5% slope, but after that about 20 km over what is relative easy terrain with relative flat asphalt roads.
It is McKenna leading up Eikenmolen and after that Polnicky, Powless, Olesen, , Serebriakov, Smirnovs, Carboni and many times McKenna taking turns.
They are quite fast and although no rider are dropped over this section, the cap is reduced to 4’55” when the breakaway enter the 800 meters cobbles at the Bosberg climb. The total length of the hill is 986 meters with an average of 5.8% max slope 11%.
It is the usual domestics fronting the pack at Bosberg, we still got about 130 very hard km left and seemingly no teams dares to challenge the current situation with Moser, Evonik, Tinkoff and sometimes Air France dominating the pack and controlling the pace. It is not quite clear but it looks like it is Belgasem setting the pace this time.
We got 13 km between Bosberg and the frightening Muur – Kapelmuur also known as Wall of Geraardsbergen, including asphalt paved Overberg. Muur – Kapelmuur contain 1.9 km of cobbles, the Wall itself is 1000 meters at average 9.2% with sections up to 20%
The pace is now getting hotter reducing the peloton to 155 riders before they reach the “Muur”, Smirnovs and Vanendert setting the pace in the pack.
The breakaway hit the wall with 4’29” and for the first time we see the group split, De Buyst and van der Poel in front while Ganna, McCarthy and Van Aert suffers on the extreme slopes and can’t keep up.
Smirnovs leads the pack into the cobbles but not for long, as Bewley takes to the front and start pulling on his own. Blythe in 3rd position, with also Baugnies, Senechal, Sulimov, Teunissen and Vanmarcke well positioned at this critical moment.
Although Bewley threatened the pack a little at Muur – Kapelmuur, the Muur came early in this edition of Vlaanderen and did not make much difference. 144 riders survived in the peloton and the cap stayed abound 4’30
The next about 25 km will be relative easy leading up to the short cobbled section Kaperij, followed by another 20 km without stones. This about 45 km includes 6 hills on asphalt road. The last 3 with relative steep slopes before we reach Kerkgate, a 2.1 km cobbled sector on flat roads.
The first 4-5 km after Muur – Kapelmuur includes Parikeberg, a rather easy 600 meter asphalt climb with average 5.8%, but we head directly into a 38 km/h crosswind with a peloton already stretched to breaking point by the Kapelmuur, and even though the pace is not extreme we get a split. Most important riders not making the cut, are Declerq, Kristoff, Manakov, Pedersen, Polanc, Potts.
Pack reduced to 78 riders
The situation is not too critical though, as all the mentioned riders get back within the next 5 km, and more comes back later to create a larger peloton with 130 riders, passing Tenbosse (asphalt 450 m 6.9%) La houppe (asphalt 2.6 km 3.4%) and the partly cobbled climb Kaperij (900 m 5.4%) together.
But the three harder asphalt climbs (Foreest 685m 8.36%, Berg ten Stene 1.3 km 5.2%, Boigneberg 1,0 km 5.2%), combined with crosswind at 44 km/h that sometimes hit the peloton, create new splits sometimes reducing the pack to 70-75 riders, at other points crowing back to around 125.
Benoot, Polanc, Schreurs, Smirnovs, Vanendert and Walsleben in serious trouble when the pack split and also Taillefour and Zhupa hanging low sometimes.
We have seen Lietaer, Manakov, Van Heerden and even Zubov taking turns in the period.
The pace is much higher now and the pack is cutting more and more time of the breakaway lead. Riders in the rear will clearly not make it back if we see any attempt from a better rider, the bunch it is simply stretched too much now and if you got anything left to move forward there is no time to rest.
The breakaway reach Kerkgate with a lead of 2’12” at this point the pack is 125 riders and we got about 73 km left. Kerkgate is a flat 2.1 km cobbled sector the first if a series of difficult sectors and climbs coming up right after each other now.
In the pack we see first Manakov then Lietaer, and finally Zubov leading over Kerkgate, and later Manakov and Hnik pushing on the short asphalt sector before we get to the next cobbled hill Kattenberg, a 600 m climb at 6,7%.
Kerkgate and crosswind at the following asphalt road split the pack again. The top cobblers are positioned like this inside the first about 40 riders in the pack, Bewley, Kamyshev, Senechal, Blythe, Teunissen, Wisniowski, Altur, Trentin, Vanmarcke, Baugnies, Van Avermaet, Daniel and Vanbilsen
Everyone not mentioned above is in a huge risk of dropping soon, as the pace is hot and the route getting more and more difficult.
The breakaway got 1’22” starting the Kattenberg climb. The pack is now visible in the background.
Boros lead the pack over Kattenberg and continues to lead into the 1.8 km cobbled Holleweg.
When Boros have no more left team leader Bewley takes over, and the pack explodes. De Buyst, McCarthy, Ganna and Van Aert reeled in, with only van der Poel still desperate to get a get few more minutes on the TV screens in millions of homes.
We got two groups in the immediate pursuit:
At 14” Bewley, Boros, De Buyst, Kamyshev, McCarthy, Potts, Senechal, Sulimov and Teunissen
At 35” Baugnies, Blythe, Ganna, Hnik, Manakov, Neilands, Trentin and Zubov
At 57” pack 58 riders
van der Poel was caught a few 100 meters further down Holleweg, and can’t keep up with the pace set by Bewley dropping out of the first group quite fast, and so does also Boros, De Buyst, McCarthy and Potts
From the 2nd group Trentin and Baugnies accelerates and joins what we can now call group Bewley
Overview of the situation when group Bewley have just left Holleweg, 2.8 km to the beginning of cobbled Eikenberg.
Leading group: Bewley in front of Senechal, at the left of him Kamyshev in front of Baugnies and Teunissen behind him Sulimov and Trentin side by side.
At 14” Blythe
At 27” Wisniowski, Vanbilsen, Zubov, Boros, Hnik, Neilands, Potts, De Buyst and van der Poel
At 49” Altur, Van Avermaet and Manakov
At 59” 43 riders with: Daniel, Theuns, Vanmarcke, David, Gerts, Kristoff, Lampaert, Puccio, Ringheim, Thomas, Pedersen and Nooytens
Bewley falls back obviously not willing to pull in the asphalt road leading up to Eikenberg and Sulimov take over with Senechal clued.
Blythe joins the leading group.
The group starts Eikenberg, 1.1 km cobbled hill at 5.8% with sections up to 10%.
The riders in the groups behind have melted into a 38 rider pursuit starting Eikenberg with a gap of 53”, they are led by Ariesen at this point.
After the end of Eikenberg the gap grows up to 1’24” resulting in a larger group of riders from the 2nd group forced to up the pace leading up to upcoming asphalt climb Achterberg (1.3 km, 4,3% max 11%. The pack split with mainly the better cobbler forming 1st pursuit, Wisniowski, Altur, Vanbilsen, Van Avermaet, Daniel, Theuns, Gerts, Kristoff, Lampaert, Ringheim, Boros, Pedersen, Declerq, Per, Neilands, Potts, Van Lerberghe, Grashev and Ariesen
Near the top of Achterberg this group have reduced the gap and gets quite close to group Bewley, and on the downhill 11 riders join the leading group.
The situation is:
Group Bewley (20 riders)
At 48” Lampaert, Boros, Declerq, Per, Potts, Van Lerberghe, Ariesen
At 2’01 Puccio
At 2’22 Vanmarcke, David, Zubov
7.6 km to famous and feared Koppenberg, 51.8 km to the finish.
After the leading group have grown to 20 riders the pace decreases significantly, as there are no longer much reason to waist a lot of energy on the asphalt. This allowed also Declerq, Per, Potts, Van Lerberghe and Ariesen to join the leaders, Vanmarcke and David have joined Lampaert and Boros the four riders now at just 53”.
Group Bewley start Koppenberg, the cobbled sector is 700 m, the climb itself is a brutal 600 meters at 11.6% with slopes up to 22%.
Bewley and Senechal leads up the climb almost side by side and the result is as expected, the 25 riders group disintegrate with 7 riders making it to the top first.
Leading Bewley, Kamyshev, Senechal, Blythe, Teunissen, Trentin and Pedersen,
At 25” Daniel
At 46” Altur, Wisniowski, Baugnies, Theuns, Van Avermaet, Vanbilsen, Sulimov, Gerts, Kristoff, Per, Declerq, Neilands, Grashev, Van Lerberghe and Ariesen
The next rider is Potts alone at 1’27”
On the asphalt we get a ceasefire allowing first Daniel to close the gap. Then also Theuns, Van Avermaet, Vanbilsen and Baugnies close up, later followed by Altur, Gerts, Declerq, Grashev, Kristoff, Neilands and Wisniowski and finally Sulimov, Per and Van Lerberghe join the leading group just as they reach Steenbeekdries.
Steenbeekdries is a cobbled sector of 2.2 km including 600 meters uphill at 7.6% with max slopes at 12.8%.
Per struggles and was forced to let go after just 400 meters on the uneven stones. Another 500 meters then also Sulimov, Neilands, Van Lerberghe and Grashev dropped. Near the end of the section Declerq also start to lose time.
16 riders leave Steenbeekdries in the first group and also conquer Taaienberg together (1.1 km cobbles, 800 meter climb at 7.1%, sections up to 18%) now fronted by Teunissen, who also leads at the asphalt road leading up to cobbled sector Donderij
We got 35 km left.
TIME TO TAKE A BREAK AND GO TO COMMERSIALS -
BE BACK SOON
Thanks to Jandal (and Leon40) for the race map that I found in last season’s report
Welcome back to the 3rd part of our coverage. Before the break we saw some early splits in the pack where important riders like Teunissen, Sulimov, Polanc, Zubov and many other was sitting to low.
We saw the morning breakaway getting caught at Holleweg with a little more than 63 km left.
We saw the first important acceleration between the favorites where Bewley, Senechal, Kamyshev, Baugnies, Teunissen, Sulimov, Trentin and later Blythe, put some fear into the heads of their competitors.
Just before the commercials we saw Daniel, Theuns, Van Avermaet, Vanbilsen, Baugnies, Altur, Gerts, Kristoff and Wisniowski join the leading group to form a 16 rider favorite group. Leaving only three important team leaders behind the favorites. Vanmarcke, Polanc and David.
Polanc not in the picture for a long time and we must expect not to hear from him unless he abandons, but teammate Per just dropped so Isostar might have a shot at a result with him.
Last time we did hear from Vanmarcke and David they were at 2’22” so it questionable if they can come back to claim a reasonable result.
The Race (P3) Afternoon
Steenbeekdries to Oudenaarde
Bewley leads on Donderij a 700 meters cobbled road. Teunissen in 2nd position side by side with Senechal and Kamyshev and also Blythe in 2nd row. In third row Altur with Trentin at wheel.
Behind them Vanbilsen side by side with Pedersen, in front of team leader Wisniowski and Baugnies at Wisniowski wheel with Van Avermaet. Clinging on at the rear Daniel, Theuns, Gerts, Kristoff
At 2’20 Declerq and Sulimov
At 2’33 Neilands
At 3’26 Ringheim, Grashev
At 3’33 Boros, Per, Van Lerberghe
A 3’53 Vanmarcke, Potts and Ariesen
Donderij leading directly up to asphalt paved Fortuinberg (1.1 km at 7.4%) as we have seen before Bewley not willing to lead on asphalt. Senechal leads over the climb, with the 16 rider group still intact and the distance to the next group unchanged at 2’20”
In the 2nd group Sulimov have dropped Declerq and starts to close the gap on the downhill and asphalt road leading to upcoming Oude Kruisberg, he will join the favorites about 1 km before they start the famous cobbled hill.
Also Declerq gets contact with the favorites about 100 meters before they reach the stones.
Oude Kruisberg is just 300 meter cobbles but the climb is 1.9 km at 4.8% with slopes up to 9%.
As soon as the cobbled road start Baugnies one of the better punchers in this group accelerate, Teunissen and Wisniowski immidiatly responding.
We are at a 5.1% slope, 26.1 km left.
The acceleration was not hard enough; or rather Baugnies runs out of cobble stones, with a long line of riders connected almost as one long sprint train.
Let’s just check rider by rider. Baugnies, Teunissen, Wisniowski, Bewley, Kamyshev, Vanbilsen, Senechal, Blythe, Altur, Trentin, Gerts, Kristoff, Theuns, Daniel, Sulimov, Van Avermaet, Pedersen, Declerq
At 1’25” Ringheim, Boros, Per, Burghardt, Neilands, Van Lerberghe, Grashev, Ariesen
At 2’01” Vanmarcke and Potts
For some time it seemed that Baugnies was wasting energy continuing his hard acceleration but that was not the case, relative weak puncher Kamyshev cracked and could not hold on to Bewley wheel.
Four riders with Baugnies in front hammers over the top of Oude Kruisberg.
At 24” Kamyshev, Vanbilsen, Senechal, Blythe, Altur, Trentin, Gerts, Kristoff, Theuns, Daniel and Van Avermaet
At 1’19” Sulimov, Pedersen
At 1’32” Declerq
Group Ringheim at 2’01”
Group Vanmarcke at 2’32
At 2’56 17 riders with, Zubov, Lampaert, David, Puccio, Zhupa, Hnik, Okbamariam and Joseph
After Oude Kruisberg the 4.7 km leading up to Paterberg is all downhill and the mentioned gabs do not change much.
Paterberg is 500 meters of cobbles, 400 meters climbing at 12.5% steepest at 20%.
Bewley take the lead, but he is not pulling very hard, as seen from the fact that the 2nd group is getting a few seconds closer.
But then just as he is about to pass over the top, Bewley up the pace on the cobbles and Wisniowski at that point sitting in 2nd position, can hold wheel. Bewley rides away from what was the leading group.
2.8 km to Oude Kwaremont the last cobbled hill, 19.3 km to the finish.
When what is now the 3rd group passes over Oude Kruisberg attack from Kristoff, a alert Gerts takes his wheel and also Senechal and Theuns follow this move. They are fast on the downhill and not only opens a nice gap, but also get quite close to the trio in front of them.
800 meter before Bewley reach Oude Kruisberg group Kristoff joins group Wisniowski to form a 7 rider pursuit, at this point 20” behind Bewley, the next riders is Daniel 15” behind the pursuit, Van Avermaet another 4”
The distance between the group decreases some before they get to Oude Kwaremont, Bewley starts the cobbled hill with just 8” to the 7 rider pursuit, another 15” to Daniel and Van Avermaet
Oude Kwaremont contains a 1.7 km cobbled section, the climb itself 2.2 km at 4.2% with slopes up to 11%
Bewley increases the gap to 14” over the first 500 meters of Oude Kwaremont, in the meantime Daniel and Van Avermaet have closed the gap to group Wisniowski
At 53” a 5 rider group have formed Kamyshev, Blythe, Altur, Trentin and Vanbilsen
We are near the end of Oude Kwaremont. Bewley leads with 16”.
Behind him a reduced group now in direct pursuit, Teunissen in front of Baugnies, Wisniowski, Senechal and Theuns
Van Avermaet alone at 52”
At 1’02 7 riders Kamyshev, Blythe, Altur, Trentin, Daniel, Vanbilsen and Kristoff
At 1’50 Gerts
At 3’38 Sulimov, Pedersen and Declerq
Van Avermaet in front of group Kamyshev
After the downhill Bewley starts the flat sector including cobbled Varentstraat with a lead of 26”.
Baugnies leads the direct pursuit in front of Wisniowski, Teunissen and Senechal
Theuns was dropped from the group mentioned above and is now in the third group pulled forward by Blythe, in this group also Trentin and Kamyshev thay are 1’18” behind the race leader.
Van Avermaet fell right through this group now alone at 1’41”.
The next group is Altur, Daniel, Vanbilsen, Kristoff and Gerts at 1’50”
A huge gap down to Sulimov and Pedersen at 4’19”
3rd group fronted by Blythe
Bewley enter Varentstraat with 29” to the next group now fronted by Wisniowski
The sector is 1.9 km and the last cobbled sector in the race. We got 9 km to the finish line.
Trentin have taken over the lead in the 3rd group, sharing the workload with Blythe, while neither Kamyshev nor Theuns are willing or able to participate, but they are just able to keep the gap to the next group at the 30” level, so nothing is decided between these two groups, as they have not yet started Varentstraat
The 4th group has pick up Van Avermaet so just a reminder that the other are Altur, Daniel, Vanbilsen, Kristoff and Gerts, they are 2’05 behind Bewley so we must expect a win or even a podium to be out of question, but as mentioned if they close the about 30” at Varentstraat still some good top 10 results within reach.
Pedersen alone at 4’13”
3rd group now fronted by Trentin passing under the 10 km banner
Bewley about to pass under the 5 km banner.
700 meter behind Brewley, Baugnies lead the 2nd group in front of Senechal and Teunissen, although on paper Wisniowski should be stronger here on the flat asphalt, but after 260 km under this conditions, these statistics do not matter and he is out of energy, forced to fall behind the trio.
Kamyshev have taken the lead in the 3rd group, but they are additional 1.1 km further back and it seem more and more unlikely they will be able to fight for a podium or even a top 5, unless one of the 5 riders I front punctures or completely explodes, but they are actually riding a little faster than Baugnies.
Bewley has 3 km left with now 57” to the next rider. Only a mechanical is between him and victory.
600 meters down the road Baugnies lead the 2nd group, they got 18” to Wisniowski and additional 1’18” to the four riders further down the road, but they all surely seems to be in agony at this late point in the race.
.
In the next group Trentin has taken the front, in pursuit of the unlikely top 5. They got 36 seconds to the group behind them.
Gerts leads what is now the 5th group, with Altur, Van Avermaet, Daniel, Vanbilsen and Kristoff
They got 1’13 to Pedersen. Additional 1’09 to Ringheim and another 37” to Sulimov.
A final overview of the situation between the first 6 groups as Bewley passes under the red kite
At 1’03” Senechal, Teunissen and Baugnies
At 1’21” Wisniowski
At 2’46” Kamyshev, Blythe, Trentin and Theuns
At 3’18” Altur, Van Avermaet, Daniel, Vanbilsen, Kristoff and Gerts
At 4’28” Pedersen
Sam Bewley takes his fourth victory in De Ronde, chiseling in stone or rather on stone that he is by far the best of his generation in the cobbled classics. There is no visible celebration on his part, either he just expected this result or maybe more realistic it would simply hurt too much to lift those arms.
Much more competition for 2nd, Teunissen opens his sprint quite early from about 800 meters, Senechal counters, while Baugnies may have been to focused on the pursuit and now seems not to have anything left.
Senechal is the better and also more explosive sprinter in this duo, no way he could miss this one and Teunissen have to settle with the last podium, both should be very content with this result anyhow, clearly their best in this race. They lose 50”
Finishing just outside the podium can feel like a disappointing result, but never the less Baugnies fighting so hard to distance the riders behind him, may well be quite happy with this. It is his best result ever and he was considered an outsider and expected not to make top 5.
He lost 1'10”
Rounding of top 5 Wisniowski comes in at 1'31”, also him with clearly the best result in this race. The fact that some optimistic so called experts expected that he would pull out a huge surprise this season, should not take anything away from this great result, he is still very young and his time will come.
Now to the results just outside top 5, in the next group. Theuns start the sprint just as in the previous group from about 800 meters, both Kamyshev and Blythe up for the challenge, whereas it looks like Trentin is done gone and cooked too much.
Theuns take 6th in front of Blythe 7th, and Kamyshev 8th. All at 2'38”
Sadly for Trentin and his team, he really exploded completely and with a very long hard sprint from Kristoff flying out of the next group, Trentin have to settle with 10th behind the Norwegian top sprinter who will become todays big surprise.
Van Avermaet 11th, Vanbilsen 12th, Altur 13th and Daniel 14th
Gerts 15th and Pedersen 16th
Ringheim 17th, Sulimov 18th Boros 19th and Declerq round of top 20
The only top rider to have a horriable day was Sep Vanmarcke coming in 27th at + 9'51, in this group also other fine cobblers like Lampaert, Per, Drucker, Okbamariam, Potts and Joseph.
This was all from Oudenaarde this time around, but I am sure we are all looking forward to the next edition of the famous race.
Result
1
Sam Bewley
Moser - Sygic
7h49'15
2
Florian Senechal
Team Tinkoff
+ 50
3
Mike Teunissen
Gazelle
s.t.
4
Jerome Baugnies
Kulczyk - Alitalia
+ 1'10
5
Lukasz Wisniowski
Grieg - Maersk
+ 1'31
6
Edward Theuns
Generali
+ 2'38
7
Adam Blythe
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
8
Arman Kamyshev
Air France - KLM
s.t.
9
Alexander Kristoff
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 3'04
10
Matteo Trentin
T-Mobile
s.t.
11
Greg Van Avermaet
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
12
Kenneth Vanbilsen
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
13
Marcos Altur
Podium Ambition
s.t.
14
Maxime Daniel
Festina - OAKA
s.t.
15
Floris Gerts
eBuddy
+ 3'31
16
Mads Pedersen
Grieg - Maersk
+ 4'47
17
Jo Kogstad Ringheim
Grieg - Maersk
+ 6'05
18
Alexander Sulimov
Team Tinkoff
+ 6'48
19
Michael Boros
Moser - Sygic
+ 7'41
20
Tim Declerq
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
21
Krists Neilands
Evonik - ELKO
+ 8'45
22
Marcus Burghardt
T-Mobile
s.t.
23
Bert Van Lerberghe
Generali
+ 9'15
24
Martin Grashev
Podium Ambition
s.t.
25
Tim Ariesen
eBuddy
s.t.
26
Tom David
SPAR - Siam Cement
+ 9'38
27
Sep Vanmarcke
Repsol - Netflix
+ 9'51
28
Viktor Manakov
Team Tinkoff
s.t.
29
David Per
Isostar - LimeBike
s.t.
30
Jempy Drucker
Kulczyk - Alitalia
s.t.
31
Tom Van Asbroeck
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
32
Tesfom Okbamariam
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
s.t.
33
Marc Potts
Gazelle
s.t.
34
Yves Lampaert
eBuddy
s.t.
35
Stijn Joseph
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
36
Oscar Riesebeek
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
37
Karel Hnik
Moser - Sygic
+ 11'08
38
Georgios Karatzios
Festina - OAKA
s.t.
39
Matvey Zubov
Team Tinkoff
s.t.
40
Nathan Van Hooydonck
Aegon - Lavazza
s.t.
41
Logan Owen
Podium Ambition
s.t.
42
Salvatore Puccio
Air France - KLM
s.t.
43
Tomas Paprstka
Evonik - ELKO
+ 11'53
44
Alexander Edmondson
Podium Ambition
+ 12'32
45
Sascha Weber
Festina - OAKA
s.t.
46
Sven Nooytens
Evonik - ELKO
+ 12'49
47
Louis Verhelst
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
48
Geraint Thomas
Podium Ambition
s.t.
49
Tiesj Benoot
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
50
Fabien Taillefour
Repsol - Netflix
+ 14'07
51
Clenne Morvan Moulingui
Grieg - Maersk
+ 14'29
52
Jan Polanc
Isostar - LimeBike
+ 14'43
53
Clement Venturini
Generali
+ 14'53
54
Bob Schoonbroodt
Generali
s.t.
55
Lucas Manuel Gaday
Generali
s.t.
56
Hsuan Ping Hsu
SPAR - Siam Cement
s.t.
57
Hampus Anderberg
Aker - MOT
+ 15'20
58
Jiri Polnicky
Moser - Sygic
+ 16'20
59
Eugert Zhupa
Farfetch Pro Cycling
s.t.
60
Pit Schlechter
EA Vesuvio
s.t.
61
Hamish Schreurs
Bennelong - Mitchelton
s.t.
62
Nur Amirul Marzuki
SPAR - Siam Cement
+ 16'56
63
Jon Ander Insausti
Repsol - Netflix
s.t.
64
Varsham Darbinyan
SPAR - Siam Cement
s.t.
65
Julien Vermote
Isostar - LimeBike
s.t.
66
Kristaps Budenieks
SPAR - Siam Cement
+ 18'06
67
Timo Roosen
eBuddy
s.t.
68
Jasper De Buyst
Generali
s.t.
69
Jan Oelerich
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
70
Lars Boom
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 19'02
71
Mathieu van der Poel
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 20'14
72
Yuan Tan Peng
Grieg - Maersk
+ 20'32
73
Jakub Skala
Generali
+ 20'59
74
Ondrej Cink
Moser - Sygic
s.t.
75
Leonardo Basso
Repsol - Netflix
s.t.
76
Amund Grondahl Jansen
Grieg - Maersk
s.t.
77
Philipp Walsleben
Aker - MOT
+ 21'50
78
Darren Matthews
Podium Ambition
+ 22'20
79
Taco van der Hoorn
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 22'35
80
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Grieg - Maersk
+ 23'01
81
Jyme Bridges
Podium Ambition
+ 23'34
82
Lukas Meiler
Team Puma - SAP
+ 23'59
83
Abou Sanogo
T-Mobile
+ 24'20
84
Andrei Nechita
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 24'37
85
Remi Cavagna
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
86
Milan Menten
Farfetch Pro Cycling
s.t.
87
Julius van den Berg
Farfetch Pro Cycling
s.t.
88
Cristian Cominelli
Kulczyk - Alitalia
s.t.
89
Jodok Salzmann
Farfetch Pro Cycling
s.t.
90
Sebastian Lander
Farfetch Pro Cycling
+ 25'45
91
Michael Schwarzmann
T-Mobile
s.t.
92
Stefan Kung
Generali
+ 25'59
93
Ahmed Youssef Belgasem
Evonik - ELKO
+ 26'27
94
Juan Van Heerden
Team Tinkoff
+ 26'43
95
Olivier Lecourt De Billot
T-Mobile
+ 27'00
96
Kristian Sbaragli
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 28'04
97
Kamil Gradek
Kulczyk - Alitalia
+ 28'35
98
Cyrus Monk
Bennelong - Mitchelton
s.t.
99
Jay McCarthy
Farfetch Pro Cycling
+ 28'56
100
Jens Keukeleire
Podium Ambition
s.t.
101
Jernej Svab
Repsol - Netflix
+ 29'15
102
Jesse Kaislavuo
EA Vesuvio
s.t.
103
Geert Van der Sanden
Isostar - LimeBike
s.t.
104
Jakub Kaczmarek
Fablok - Bank BGZ
s.t.
105
Airidas Videika
Aker - MOT
+ 30'16
106
Andris Smirnovs
Evonik - ELKO
+ 30'38
107
Michail Kortsidakis
Festina - OAKA
+ 32'28
108
Ivan Centrone
EA Vesuvio
s.t.
109
Peter Varga
T-Mobile
+ 33'30
110
Jakob Rathe
SPAR - Siam Cement
s.t.
111
Eliot Lietaer
Air France - KLM
s.t.
112
Vyacheslav Kuznetsov
Isostar - LimeBike
+ 34'49
113
Steven Kalf
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 35'16
114
Samuel Ssabagwanya
Farfetch Pro Cycling
s.t.
115
Filippo Ganna
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
116
Nihal Silva
Aker - MOT
+ 36'01
117
Conor Dunne
Team Puma - SAP
+ 37'14
118
Peeter Tarvis
Isostar - LimeBike
+ 37'40
119
Domenic Weinstein
Team Puma - SAP
+ 38'02
120
Jenthe Biermans
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
+ 38'12
121
Soren Kragh Andersen
Grieg - Maersk
+ 39'08
122
Rudy Barbier
Festina - OAKA
+ 39'30
123
Alexis Vuillermoz
Festina - OAKA
+ 40'48
124
Thanawut Sanikwathi
EA Vesuvio
+ 42'05
125
Blaz Furdi
Gazelle
s.t.
126
Thomas De Gendt
Gazelle
s.t.
127
Isaac Speirs
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 44'55
128
Aidan Van Niekerk
Festina - OAKA
+ 45'47
129
Jelle Vanendert
Air France - KLM
+ 46'59
130
Phil Bauhaus
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 47'12
131
Patrick Olesen
Air France - KLM
+ 47'24
132
Wout Van Aert
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
s.t.
133
Alberto Bettiol
Farfetch Pro Cycling
+ 47'57
134
Guy Sagiv
Team Puma - SAP
+ 48'48
135
Romain Le Roux
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 49'21
136
Marildo Yzeiraj
Aker - MOT
+ 49'59
137
Sonomtseren Delgerbayar
SPAR - Siam Cement
+ 51'08
138
Matthew Teggart
Repsol - Netflix
+ 52'25
139
Gabriel Marin
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 53'40
140
Trond Hakon Trondsen
Aker - MOT
+ 55'10
141
Julien Bernard
Fablok - Bank BGZ
+ 1h00'26
142
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Gazelle
+ 1h01'37
143
Adrian Gjolberg
Aker - MOT
s.t.
144
Kiril Yatsevich
Team Tinkoff
+ 1h03'41
145
Sjoerd Bax
EA Vesuvio
+ 1h06'54
146
Elie Gesbert
EA Vesuvio
s.t.
147
Bas Van der Kooij
eBuddy
s.t.
148
Erik Baska
Moser - Sygic
+ 1h08'40
149
Giovanni Carboni
Moser - Sygic
+ 1h11'12
150
Eryk Laton
Kulczyk - Alitalia
+ 1h13'12
151
Cheng Ji
Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ
+ 1h14'33
152
Charalampas Kastrantas
Festina - OAKA
+ 1h20'21
153
Omer Goldstein
eBuddy
+ 1h23'23
Thanks to Leon40 and Jandal for the race map that I found in last season’s report
Ronde van Vlaanderen 
expected that he would pull out a huge surprise this season, should not take anything away from this great result, he is still very young and his time will come.
