We're at the start line for the 2020 edition of Le Samyn. The best cobbles riders of the PCT and some from the CT have made the trip and are raring to go to try to make an impact in this race. Summerhill has had an impressive start to the cobbles campaign. Can he continue his form, or can the others stop him in what is not the hardest cobbles race on the calendar?
Oh, and it's raining in Mons and rains are forecast all through the race. This should make it interesting!
Favourites
FLA
HIL
STA
RES
COB
SPR
ACC
Summerhill
78
73
76
72
83
70
73
Trentin
74
74
76
71
81
75
76
Altur
75
70
75
70
82
72
68
Zepuntke
72
69
79
72
81
72
65
Vanbilsen
78
69
80
74
80
72
71
Vanspeybrouck
75
70
77
70
81
66
68
Daniel
73
69
76
76
80
76
72
Vanmarcke
76
66
77
72
80
70
72
Baugnies
77
71
79
72
79
64
72
Debesay
75
74
75
79
77
69
78
Van Avermaet
74
72
72
69
78
74
72
Breen
77
70
72
72
78
73
72
Ferreira
73
68
74
70
79
71
69
Van Keirsbulck
72
71
75
73
78
70
68
A total of 27 riders, in three separate attacks formed the initial break of the day. The peloton were having none of it and closed down the move even before they got a chance to get into their groove.
Some kilometers later, a group of 5 get away, and this time, they're a keeper. The riders in the break are:
Varga Brockhoff El Sabbahi Nechita Faiers
Nechita is the best cobbles rider in the group.
Coronel suffered an early puncture but he recovers back to the pack in no time.
With 120 km to go, Podium Ambition, Minions, Andorra and Lierse have started to get the pack organized for the chase. They trail by a little over 3 minutes, but the gap was more a little earlier.
Naesen attacks 7 kilometers later.
Rowe has the same idea another 7 kilometers later.
Saber, Richardson and Ostergaard are the next to attack as we near the 100 kilometers to go mark.
The break hits the first cobbled sector and surprisingly, it is Nechita who's the one to drop back!
The five attackers have joined together some ways back.
Nechita is now caught by the chasing pack, but Naesen drops from this group.
Naesen is caught by the pack.
The breakaway and the attackers minus Naesen come together with 85 km to go. Their lead is 1'28". Three cobbles sector have covered. Eighteen remain.
Kristoff attacks next.
He catches the break with 65 km to go.
Podium Ambition and Minions are the leading the peloton for the time being. They trail by 53 seconds. 159 riders remain in the pack.
Jumping ahead to 30 km to go...
The break leads by 29 seconds. Six cobbled sectors remain.
The break is caught with 25 km to go. Andorra, Lierse and Mapei have come to the front with Podium Ambition and Minions taking a little breather for the moment.
The pack are on the fourth to last sector. 17 km remain and 116 riders remain. All the favourites have kept themselves out of trouble till now.
Breen attacks with 15 km left.
Breen stays away for 5 kilometers but is then caught. The peloton is down to 61 riders though as the pace picks up. Ostergaard, Machado, Tsatevich, Jacobs and more have been dropped.
The peloton splits up into three groups on the penultimate sector.
Naesen, Debesay and Van Avermaet are in the second group.
Rowe and Saber have fallen to the third group with the dropped riders mentioned earlier.
Summerhill attacks a kilometer later and Vanbilsen sets off in chase.
The Naesen/ Debesay group have made it back to the peloton.
3 km to go for the lead group. Planckaert, Altur and Kaislavuo are the ones chasing. They trail Summerhill leads by 22 seconds with Vanbilsen 4 seconds behind the Andorra rider.
The Rowe/ Saber group is 40 seconds behind the peloton.
Summerhill reaches the end of the final cobbled sector. Just 2 km of flat roads remain for him. His lead is still 4 seconds.
41 riders remain in the chase group, where Altur is the one chasing furiously to close the gap.
Final kilometer for Summerhill. Vanbilsen just looks to be tiring behind.
The group behind has split with seven riders getting a gap. Altur, Zepuntke, Trentin, Vanspeybrouck, Daniel, Nolf and Bush are in the front group.
Naesen has dropped back to the Rowe/ Saber group.
The seven rider group is caught by the chase group but Altur, Daniel and Trentin go clear immediately, and are catching Vanbilsen. Summerhill is extending his lead.
Summerhill has a decent gap and has 400 meters to go. Vanbilsen is about to get swarmed! The next ten riders have a gap with Maes chasing in the background.
Trentin goes into 2nd with 200 meters to go. Altur has blown up! Vanbilsen is still 3rd.
Summerhill celebrates already with 100 meters to go. Is it a bit early though with Trentin bearing down on him.
Van Keirsbulck, Baugnies, Vanspeybrouck, Bush and Daniel are bearing down on Vanbilsen. Altur is behind them all.
Summerhill wins comfortably in the end!
Trentin is 2nd.
Vanspeybrouck wins the sprint for 3rd to make it an excellent result for Andorra.
Vanbilsen claims 4th.
Baugnies edges out Van Keirsbulck for 5th. That's a very good result for the CT outfit.
Bush is 7th with Daniel in 8th.
Altur will be disappointed with 9th.
Vanmarcke claims 10th ahead of Ferreira.
Breen is 12th.
Thwaites, Zepuntke and Van der Haar make up the rest of the Top 15.
Van Asbroeck is 16th, with Chaturanga and Nolf following.
Lander is 19th.
Van Averamaet wins the sprint for 20th. Sinkeldam, Schreurs, Maes, Kaislavuo and Garcia Cortina make up the next positions.
Today's winner - Danny Summerhill.
Summerhill's domination on the cobbles continues and his team had a near-perfect 1-3 result. Trentin gets a podium position as well with 2nd. A mention for Los Pollos Hermanos as Baugnies achieves a 5th place in this race.
