Another year, another new division for this race. This time, however, a lot of the big names from last season are back to try their luck again. Can anyone beat defending champion Bewley? Can Baugnies make it his third victory in this race? Or will someone else stand on top of the podium for the first time ever?
Favourites
FLA
HIL
RES
COB
SPR
ACC
Bewley
78
71
76
83
83
83
Vanspeybrouck
76
71
71
82
67
69
Wisniowski
80
71
76
81
73
76
Altur
75
70
70
81
72
68
Zepuntke
72
69
72
81
72
65
Stallaert
77
67
68
81
79
76
Teunissen
76
66
73
81
67
69
Theuns
72
74
73
80
77
76
Van Avermaet
76
74
72
80
76
75
Baugnies
78
72
73
80
65
73
Vanmarcke
76
66
72
80
70
72
The race starts but we have to wait till the first cobbled section for a breakaway to form. The following riders are in it:
Taillefour Hagen Kalf Barthe
Peloton have not been overexerting themselves in the early going, but they've already caught Hagen. Four cobbled sectors are done. 112 riders remain in the pack.
Taillefour has dropped his breakaway companions on the next sector.
Kalf is caught as the peloton reach the same sector.
Debesay is the first of the bigger names in trouble.
Debesay makes it back on the flat followed the cobbles.
Up ahead, Barthe has caught Taillefour and they continue to keep their lead to the pack.
Theuns is dropped on the seventh cobbled sector.
He does make it back too afterwards.
Moser and Kulczyk lead the chase of the exactly 100 rider peloton. They trail the breakaway duo by 3'58" with half the race now gone.
The race calms down for a while.
The 13th cobbled sector causes big damage! Just 36 riders remain in the bunch, with a 25 man group chasing them, a little way back.
Debesay has been dropped again.
Bohli is further back.
75 km to go. Taillefour drops Barthe on the 15th section. The peloton are 2'37" in arrears but closing in faster now. Debesay is back in the pack.
Teunissen is the next of the favourites in trouble. He is just about hanging on at the back of the peloton.
Teunissen does eventually recover.
Not so good news for Lhotellerie, Potts, Van Lerberghe, Ostergaard and Broers, as they're dropped and distanced.
The break is caught. There's still 65 km left. 22 riders form the peloton. 26 riders are in the chase group.
Teunissen is dropped again! Polnicky, Lampaert, Ariesen and Taillefour from the day's break are the others in this group. The peloton have crossed the 18th section.
Things settle down a bit allowing Teunissen to get back to the peloton. 26 riders remain after the 18th cobbled section. Taillefour is still somehow chasing on his own just behind this group. 25 km remain now, and just two cobbled sectors.
Kulppi attacks with 14 km to go.
His salvo lasts 2 km before he is reeled in.
Bewley puts a few hard pedal strokes in on the penultimate cobbled sector and gets a gap to the rest of the group! 9 km to go.
Bewley extends his lead to 52 seconds as he crosses the 5 km banner. E3 group mentioned above has broken up further in the meantime.
E2 remains the same as before. E3 now consists of Baugnies, Sulimov, Debesay and Altur. Teunissen and Stallaert are chasing them.
Bewley starts the final sector in the lead, but it has been severely diminished in the recent past by a charging Theuns and Wisniowski! The gap is down to just 16 seconds! Could we really see the Moser overhauled in the closing moments of this race?
Looks like Bewley has paced himself well and has pulled out a further 2 seconds ahead of Theuns and Wisniowski. Just 500 meters to go to the finish.
Altur has been dropped from the group chasing Theuns and Wisniowski. This group now consists of Vanspeybrouck, Zepuntke, Gerts and Van Avermaet.
The next group has Altur, Sulimov, Debesay, Albert, Baugnies and Stallaert.
200 meters to go for Bewley, as Theuns has dropped Wisniowski and is catching the leader again. Just 9 seconds the gap now!
Behind, Van Avermaet is dropped.
Theuns runs out of road to complete his comeback as Bewley takes back to back wins in this race!
A valiant ride from Theuns gets him 2nd. Wisniowski is 3rd.
Zepuntke can't keep up with Gerts and Vanspeybrouck as they battle for 4th.
Gerts does take the position, ahead of Vanspeybrouck.
Zepuntke is 6th.
Van Avermaet is 7th.
Altur wins the sprint for 8th, ahead of Debesay and Sulimov. Albert in 11th makes it a good day for Minions.
Baugnies is 12th and Stallaert 13th. Both will likely be somewhat disappointed with this result.
Teunissen hard day ends with 14th place.
Vanmarcke rounds out the Top 15.
Today's winner - Sam Bewley.
The legend of Sam Bewley continues as wins yet another cobbled classic and becomes ties the record for most wins in this race. Theuns and Wisniowski put in a valiant late effort but it wasn't enough in the end.
