Welcome to the hell of the south, this Rwandan course will punish many riders so lets get started. Our opening attack will come from Cahyadi with Lasca on his wheel.
174 km
The first time over the cobbles would see a different leader, and the only one we would have for some time after this. Poljanec takes them across the finish line, and will end up providing a solo breakaway for much of the first half of the race.
140 km
On only the 4th of the 15 trips around this circuit we have now come back together with no group out in front of the peloton anymore an only 56 riders remaining in this group. Sinkeldam has done most of the damage on the front for the field.
109 km
We are on the 7th lap now, just short of the dangerous cobbles section and we finally see some real action by a very real threat to the field. Fenn makes the biggest move of the day and will have some company shortly.
106 km
It is hard to get a shot of just the riders of note as the lapped traffic is just struggling to survive on these cobbles. But we have a lead breakaway of five, all in the fore of the picture.
Fenn
Van der Haar
Marcos
Sweeck
Ghani
Ghani is in the Malaysian champions jersey of Blue, with Red and White vertical stripes.
90 km
The group struggles to stay together over the climbing part of the cobbles, and is quickly down to just three also having to deal with slower traffic which could be any number of laps down at this point.
Van der Haar and Ghani have fallen back, but the distance from the front to the peloton has really stretched now 5'03
68 km
There is no longer any more help for Fenn as he rides away on his own to beat the field. He has a massive 8'02 gap to work with and just needs to hold his own tempo.
59 km
The peloton, what's left anyway, has realized the danger and the key players are working. Baugnies up front with Vanspeybrouck, right behind them is Zepuntke and the other heads of state.
The lead drops over this 10th circuit to just 7'05 and falling fast on the cobbled section.
47 km
The 11th time of asking over the cobbled section and we are down to just 8 leaders remaining, still chasing 3 riders in front of them. With Fenn now 5'52" ahead of them.
Vanbilsen
Sinkeldam
Vanspeybrouck
Zepuntke
Baugnies
Nolf
Stallaert
Debesay
Must be nice for Carlsberg to still have a teammate with their leader and race favorite.
40 km
On the paved section of the road we see two riders catch back up in Spengler and Debesay, but more cobbles come soon.
The lead for Fenn is still 5'52"
33 km
Coming out of the 12th time through the cobbles we have an attack from the favorites! Nolf breaks away and has Spengler on his wheel!
Behind it is Vanspeybrouck leading the chase with Baugnies and Stallaert.
31 km
Not sure if the attack did it, or just out of gas, but it is all over for Fenn as the favorites come back together atop the paved climb with 3 sets of cobbles remaining.
30 km
Now just a six rider lead group of favorites who have found a rare spot of clear roads with no traffic to worry about.
Spengler
Nolf
Vanspeybrouck
Baugnies
Stallaert
Marcos
An incredible rider from Leandro Marcos who was always just a short bit behind Fenn in the breakaway, looks like he's summoned the energy to just hold the wheels of the lead group!
24 km
Well holding onto the wheels of these riders on the cobbles is an entirely different story as both Marcos and Stallaert are unable to keep with the pace.
22 km
And again we see the pair of Spengler and Nolf get off the front, now with only Vanspeybrouck and Baugnies able to chase.
11.5 km
We have reached the bell lap! It is all split up at this point, Spengler is the first to hear the bell, how much space will he have?!
Nolf is the second to get the bell, 33" behind the leader.
Some traffic may have caused an issue for Vanspeybrouck who is 1'48 behind.
Even worse for Baugnies who is 2'59 behind. And there is another minute back to Stallaert from him.
3.5 km
Nolf has Spengler in his sights, and has pulled back some of the time, only 20" behind now.
1.5 km
If you have any gas left, now is when to find it! Spengler is struggling to maintain his lead as he has to go around Areruya and Nolf is the first rider behind him.
fin
Spengler finally crosses the line, winning this brutal race in a crowd of riders who may still have some long time of this hell left to go.
Second place is taken by Nolf who joins a group of lapped riders across the line.
A hard rider from the reigning champion, Vanspeybrouck, who finishes third on the day.
Fourth goes to Baugnies who leads lapped teammate Brozyna through the line.
Over 4 minutes behind the time of Spengler now and we see Stallaert cross for 5th place today.
Sinkeldam will finish amid this group, in 6th giving Carlsberg the first pair to survive the day. Which would be one more than some teams can claim even finished.
