Enjoy one last look at the list of favourites before the riders start the Ronde van het IJsselmeer 2020. Naesen surprisingly getting three stars from the race organisation, will he be victorious for Bralirwa – Stevens Bikes?
Home rider Schelling is the first to attack, six other riders, led by Quaade, try to join him and form the break of the day.
The Dane did most of the work, but was unable to join the Philips rider. Four other chasers managed to do so, giving us a breakaway of five riders: Schelling, Hamilton, Mugisha, Cabanas and Vilela.
The five leaders get a maximum advantage of 4’30”. As there are 100 km left, the gap stands at 3’. The teams using one or two domestiques in the chase are MOL, Podium Ambition, Bakkafrost, Minions, Tryg – Ritter Sport and Lierse SK – Pizza Ullo PCTEam.
Tulips, a lot of water, an old mill, all very inspiring Dutch stuff. So inspiring that Mugisha uses it as a reason to attack with 48 km to go! The peloton is only 1’15” behind, so apart from some extra screentime for his Rwandan and German sponsors, the Bralirwa youngster shouldn’t get too much out of this attack.
One by one, the riders of the breakaway decide there’s no point in trying to keep on fighting off the peloton. The man who started the race, Schelling, holds on the longest and makes his parents, who were actually cheering for him at the side of the road today, very proud. 21 km to go. Will we see a sprint, or is there somebody who can make a late breakaway work?
15 km to go. The same teams who were leading the peloton in the chase are still setting the pace, a lot of side wind sees the peloton stretching out.
Only ten km to the finish line, and the strong wind simply doesn’t allow for an early attack! MOL, Podium Ambition, Bakkafrost and Minions setting the pace, while we see a split behind the first 78 riders! The most important sprinters not near the front are Ciolek, Bonifazio, Krieger, Kragh Andersen, Bouhanni, Van der Sanden and Prasad.
7.5 km left and only 43 riders left in the first echelon! No extra important names missing, as we see Nepomnyachsniy and Nepomnyachsniy riding next to each other.
Final 5 km, the same 43 riders in the first group! MOL and Minions setting the pace, while a lost Ewan has trouble finding teammates and seems clueless who to follow.
3 km left as we see mainly domestiques and rouleurs on the left side on the road, while the Minions are coming through the middle, and every sprinter tries to pick a good wheel in the same train! The names in chronological order: Lindeman, Vesely, Hodeg, Saber, Nelson, Ewan, Guarnieri, Avelino, Zabel, Selig, Kupfernagel, Salleh and Haller.
2.5 km to go and the positions are still the same, although it looks like Nelson no longer wants to follow the Minions and is going his own way! Bib 21 Rowe and bib 31 Lo Cicero seem to be too far behind to make it back in time.
Nelson in the lead with 2 km to go, while Saber and Zabel still have faith in the Minions. Martinez doing his best to lead out his captain, but he doesn’t realize the Italian is miles away.
Nelson fading heavily with 1.5 km to go, Hodeg overtaking him! Avelino with a smart move jumping to the wheel of Vesely, while Guarnieri stays behind Ewan!
Problems for the Minions as well, as Hodeg feels the wind blow in his face and suddenly stands still! Leader Vesely was caught by surprise and has to start his sprint from nowhere, even before they reach the flamme rouge! Under the flamme rouge we see Saber goes for a far sprint as well, with Ewan next to him and Guarnieri between them!
700 meters left as Guarnieri takes the lead and Vesely is seen struggling hard, no home victory for manager Marco! Zabel into fourth now!
Nice gap for the Bakkafrost rider with 500 meters to go! Zabel in second, while Salleh and Kupfernagel are battling it out for third at the moment!
300 meters left and the wind doesn’t seem to be bothering the strong Italian too much! Zabel and Salleh unable to close the gap, now Kupfernagel tries to do exactly that as well!
But today is Guarnieri day! He starts cheering at more than 100 meters to the finish line! Too soon?!
Not at all! Compared to the other sprinters competing in the sprint he is an absolute beast, not the first time he’s shown it this season either! Congratulations to Bakkafrost!
Kupfernagel clearly with the second place, while Zabel completes the podium ahead of Saber in fourth, who seemed to have found his second breath. Salleh the best CT rider with a strong fifth place, ahead of Haller in sixth and a disappointing Ewan in seventh after a bad lead-out and clearly not having enough riders to complete the job today.
Selig does okay with a nice eighth place ahead of Avelino in ninth, while Vesely is only tenth after Hodeg had a very strange moment in his lead-out as well. The Colombian still manages to finish eleventh though, making the mystery of his sudden standstill only bigger. That was it for this year’s Ronde van het IJsselmeer, see you soon!
