It is a windy day in Berlin with 40km winds whipping the course. A mass sprint still seems the most likely outcome but the winds are strong enough to break it up or at least tire the peloton out. This reporter nominated Jonas Ahlstrand as the favorite but the press ranks them like this:
Fernandes, Olei, Orlov and Grand attack immediately.
Jones, Kopfauf and Martin bridge across.
But 7 is too many and the pack led by Resell and Chavanne close them down.
With 165 km to go another try and Almeida, Williams and Yechezkel get a gap. They are then joined by Olei and Martin.
That will be the break of the day and by 155 km their lead has reached 3:25. Volvo see an opportunity in the crosswinds and Ariesen, Halvorsen, Sweeck and Broers go to the front
With the winds still at 40km they soon have the field strung out.
But they can’t cause any splits. With 125 km left having reduced the break’s lead to 33 seconds they give it up. No immediate damage but that 25 km of hard chasing will have taken a lot out of the peloton.
By 117 km the lead is back to 2:40 and the pack begins to work. Ten riders from 10 different teams on the front: Lhotellerie Hofstede Dina Kosic van Zyl Van Aert Cheung Chavanne Broers Higuita
With 83 km to go the same 10 riders still chasing and the break’s lead is down to 2:11
With 65 km to go we have entered Berlin and are passing the finish line for the first time. The same riders are still working and the lead is down to 1:33
By 35km the lead is down to 36 seconds and Almeida and Martin attack the break.
33 km to go Almeida and Martin are caught and Williams counters and is caught and Martin attacks again.
But behind the pack has started to split. 41 riders have 59 seconds on the rest of the peloton Aregger and Chavanne are driving for Sauber with Rakuten and Lierse heavily represented behind them.
Interestingly Rakuten and Lierse are active although their sprinters have been dropped but hey both have strong roulers in the front group, Vanbilsen and Pelucchi for Lierse and Arashiro for Rakuten
In the second group Appollonio decides to try and close the gap himself. Sprint leaders in the second group also include: Colbrelli Kupfernagel Enger Zabel Vanoverschelde Tewelde Van Asbroeck Vantomme Hayakawa Salleh Ulanowski Reinhardt Manninen
By 24 km all the original break have been caught except Martin and Yechezkel, who bridged across to Martin. They have 36 seconds over the chasers and the leading 41 riders have expanded their lead to 1:08 over the rest of the peloton. Lierse are driving the front split.
At 20 km to go the break of the day is over. A group of 17 riders has bridged from the peloton to the front group bringing it to 63 riders. Lierse have dropped back and Volvo is on the front. Degenkolb, Ahlstrand and Boeckmans are all well positioned near the front. With the domestiques already stretched the last 20 km look to be chaotic.
From 20 to 15 km there is no control with groups forming and reforming. By 15km a 21 rider group has built up a 38 second lead but the only domestique on the front is Christensen. Behind him it the sprinters: Guarnieri, Ahlstrand and Degenkolb. Looming in 5th wheel is the ominous figure of Danny Summerhill.
13 km to go and Summerhill attacks. He will be brought quickly back but the counter starting on the left of the picture with Vanbilsen, Arashiro, and Rowe will get a gap. Lierse and Rakuten’s efforts to split the pack may still pay off.
10km to go and the 3 have 24 seconds on the pack. Enger has made it to the front and has decided to attack rather than waiting for a sprint. The chasing group has swelled to 50 riders so there are more helpers to chase.
Enger's attack fails and by 5km to go Breen with some help from Kireva has chased down the threesome and briefly everyone is back together. Delvaux is proving to have the strongest team here. But Summerhill isn’t done yet. He goes again and Silvestre is glued to his wheel.
Vanbilsen, Arashiro, and Mundle try to join them. Sakala covers the move for Andorra and the 3 counter attackers are neutralized,
The chasing group is now 37 riders, all of the biggest names are there but some of the lesser sprinters are in a group just behind and are still trying to bridge across including: Appollonio Vanoverschelde Tewelde Van Asbroeck Vantomme Hayakawa Ulanowski
By 3km Silvestre and Summerhill have 33 seconds and the pack is looking for leadership as even Delvaux appear to have run out of domestiques. On the left hand side of the road Pelucchi is launching early.
But it isn’t over for the pack, Pelucchi might have been attacking but it worked to get the chase moving and he gets help from Delvaux’s Selig. Guarnieri, Rowe, Boeckmans, Ahlstrand and Avelino are all well placed
Trouble for Degenkolb as he has been shuffled far too far back. Even Van Asbroeck, who was in the second group at 5km to go is better positioned, after some great work from Biermans and Van Aert .
Up front Silvestre hasn’t taken a single turn and Summerhill is fading so the gap is shrinking rapidly.
With 1km to go the frontrunners have launched the sprint but the pack have them in their sites.
Silvestre Summerhill
Avelino
Guarnieri
Boeckmans
Cavendish
Reinhardt
Ahlstrand
Van Asbroeck
Pelucchi
Selig
Breen
Maksimov
Rowe
But they have left it too late and Fabio Silvestre begins to celebrate. Behind the sprint for 2nd is fought out
Silvestre
Cavendish
Guarnieri
Boeckmans
Avelino
Ahlstrand
Reinhardt
Summerhill
Van Asbroeck
Rowe
Maksimov
Saber
Zabel
With some well-judged tactical racing and a big assist from Danny Summerhill, Fabio Silvestre wins the 2019 Berlin ProRace for Berg Cycles, and has time to enjoy it.
As they close in on the line Boeckmans takes second, Ahlstrand finishes strongly for third, Guarnieri takes fourth and Cavendish fifth.
Van Asbroeck squeezes out Rowe for 6th. A decent result for Lierse but considering how active they were a little disappointing, they seemed to get caught between supporting Vanbilsen and Van Aesbroeck. Maksimov takes 8th, Zabel 9th and Ciolek 10th.
Degenkolb managed only 13th while Reinhardt, Avelino and Summerhill all faded, finishing 14th, 15th and 26th. Appollonio was unable to keep his string of 6ths alive, instead finishing 43rd.
Berlin ProRace 
