189 riders at the start in Finland, but only one can be victorious in 201 km. Who will it be? Let’s find out!
Could it be Gladysh? The Ukranian is the first to attack, the four riders in his wheel are Van Hoecke, Williams, Lopez and Lasinis.
The first attack seems to be the right one! Only ten km in the race and the five attackers already have more than 3’ on the peloton. Over there, the teams at the front are Lierse, Podium Ambition, Tryg – Ritter Sport, Strava, Minions, MOL and Xero.
An early puncture for Guerao, but no problem for the Zalgiris rider, as the peloton is going slowly. The Spaniard comes back quickly and without losing too much energy.
The five homies up front are chilling, they are allowed an advantage of four minutes by the peloton with 150 km to the finish line. Some nice views around Hanko.
The kilometres fly by as we’re halfway the race. The lead of the five men up front is 3’30”, in the peloton we now see Brazilian champion Gaspar doing his share of work as well.
The attackers enter the last 40 km, but the peloton simply has more men who have been controlling them all day. Their lead has gone under a minute, Williams tries something very difficult and attacks!
At least he tried. He didn’t do too bad though, as he lasted ten km. The other four worked together and now catch him, Lasinis immediately tries to go solo as well! The peloton at 1’.
They are all trying to break free in the leading group, but remain together with 25 km to the finish line. The teams now doing the hardest work in the chase are Strava, Lierse and Xero. Three teams with strong rouleurs as well, can any of them upset the sprinters? Or is Lierse mainly working for Bonifazio, Strava for Bouhanni and Xero for Rowe?
One thing is for sure though, the early break won’t win the Hanko Classic. Bille does the last effort to reel them back in, and with 15 km left Podium Ambition, Berg Cycles and the Minions are coming to the front of the peloton!
Attack by Maes with 13 km to go! In his wheel we see Veyhe, Vanbilsen, Kuznetsov and Biermans!
The Podium Ambition domestiques don’t give them a chance and immediately jump in their wheels. 11 km to the finish line and it’s looking good for the sprinters!
6.5 km to go and Aberasturi, Alaphilippe and Edmondson keep the pace high. If Ewan wins this race, they will surely get a nice share of his prize money!
4 km to the finish line and now is the time the sprinters should be led to the front of the race. Podium Ambition, Minions and MOL seem to be having the best cards looking at their team’s positions, but we also see some rouleurs coming to the front! Moroccan champion Saber there with Vanbilsen, Maes, Rowe and Vandousselaere close to him!
Saber attacks! 3 km to go and Vandousselaere trying to follow him! He flies off like a rocket, but in the background we see both Minions and Podium Ambition with a train of 3 to 4 riders, so it won’t be easy to hold the lead!
2.5 km to the finish line as the gap is still the same! MOL, Podium Ambition and Minions now all with a decent sprinting train it seems, while it’s hard to find any other sprinters close! Rowe, Swift and Guerao are close to the head of the peloton, but the others in this image are all domestiques or rouleurs!
Saber still leads with 1.7 km left, while behind him the three trains are at the same level! Rowe and Vanbilsen start losing places, while sprinters like Cavendish, Manninen and Kristoff try to close the gap on those sprinting trains ahead of them!
Saber gets caught under the flamme rouge! The three lead-outs have been reduced to their last helper, while the best individual positioned sprinters then are Guerao, Swift, Cavendish and Manninen. Then there is a gap over the only three other sprinters who still seem to be in contention for a good placing, those are Kump, Kristoff and Boeckmans!
Guerao takes the lead with 700 metres to go! Ewan now in second position while launching his sprint, with Vesely and Lo Cicero on the left and right side of the road! Swift, Cavendish and Manninen seem to be the only other ones still in contention for the win, while in the background Itami and Avelino are trying to get inside the top-10!
Last 500 metres and the positions stay more or less the same! Who still has that little bit of extra juice in his legs?!
300 metres to go, Guerao still leading the dance!
Guerao drops back in the last 200 metres, Lo Cicero the one who is now in the lead!
The Italian also cracks! Ewan the first rider entering the last 100 metres, but doesn’t seem to be making the most speed, this will be close!
Swift overtakes the Australian in the last fifty metres! Will Berg Cycles be victorious in Finland, or is it Vesely with a final push to the line?!
It is a clear victory for Swift, with Ewan and Vesely completing the podium! Kristoff came back nicely to finish fourth ahead of Lo Cicero, who thought he was going to win it with 200 metres to go!
Manninen finishes sixth ahead of Guerao (7th), Boeckmans (8th), Kump (9th), Cavendish (10th), Avelino (11th) and Itami (12th). The lower scoring positions then go to mainly domestiques and rouleurs.
