Welcome to the East Midlands! The riders are served with a tough course today, not in terms of elevation but in terms of road surface. To make matters worse the weather is predicted to be traditionally British, meaning it is going to pour down. Poor riders. How many of them will seek shelter in the cars and give up?
These two have no intention of giving up just yet. Rickaert and van Zyl are the first to attack.
A group of six riders joins them a bit later on: Becis Kanter Weinstein Halvorsen Kreder Lietaer
None of them particularly skilled on the cobblestones, hence they get a gap.
25 kilometer into the race, the gap is already up to three minutes. Teams with favorites start to set up a chase, with Moser, Andorra, Tinkoff and Grieg most prominently.
The first time the road gets rough is with 140 kilometer to go. The maximum lead of 4'30 is already down to two minutes at this point. Polnicky and Marzuki are the first to suffer punctures but will definitely not be the last.
120 kilometer to go, the breakaway so far survives the first sectors. However, extra manpower is on the way. Potts, Declerq and Karatzios attack, all outsiders for a good result. The gap has gone back up to three minutes.
On the next sector, Kosic, Grand, Gaday and Anderberg try the same.
They'd be far from the only one. Tiller, Manakov and Machado also attempt, followed by the next trio of Van Hooydonck, Hnik and Saya Kuroeda.
A rider with a red-white jersey raising his hand after a cobble sector. Pedersen has a puncture! Unlike the one he had in Roubaix, this one occurs at a better time as he could rejoin almost immediately.
Exactly 100 kilometer to go, all twenty-one attackers unite though Kreder would lose contact after this sector. The gap is 2'30, the peloton reduced to about 100 with everyone expected to be there, there. Boros, Darbinyan and Eeckhout also tried a move but they were the first to be vetoed by the chasing teams.
The peloton is also quickly reducing numbers as riders leave at the front and back door. The biggest names to be dropped at the wrong side are Kasperkiewicz, Puccio and David. Grieg at the front, leaving a two-minute gap 70k from the line.
The breakaway falls apart as well, as only eight riders remain in the lead with 55 to go: Potts Declerq Anderberg Manakov Karatzios Van Hooydonck Grand Tiller
The peloton, to be labelled group of favorites from now on, at 1'10 with Becis and Gaday still in between. Group Kasperkiewicz another minute behid them. Giannoutsos is lapped and can pack his bags.
My apologies for the commentator's curse, Declerq punctures right after this announcement and is back in the favorites group. The two inbetweeners Becis and Gaday are also caught. Ringheim and Polnicky are the main pace setters at this moment.
Potts decides to attack as Karatzios loses contact. Pedersen is leading Wisniowski, suggesting the race is about to light up. Wohler is the last riders, two hours and ten minutes behind. Dark clouds begin to appear, get ready to reach for your umbrella!
As the predicted rain falls down, all but Potts are caught with 40 kilometer to go. Six major sectors to go, the group of favorites down to the following 27 heroes: Van Hooydonck Anderberg Summerhill, Vanspeybrouck Gerts Blythe, Neilands Theuns Wisniowski, Pedersen, Ringheim Teunissen Per, Polanc Bewley Sibilla Altur Kamyshev, Senechal, Manakov, Zubov Spengler, Bohli, Grand Stallaert, Tiller Fenn
The sole leader is caught on the next sector as Pedersen is still going strong. Eriksson (A48) punctures right in the middle of the group but no one seems to bother.
The World Champion himself leads off the sectored, shadowed by the Kamyshev - Senechal combo. Very difficult to spot the order with lap traffic, which sometimes even comes in the opposite direction for some dangerous scenes. A few riders seem to have lost contact and Theuns has stopped, needing a bike change.
All dropped riders but one return right after the sector, including the unfortunate Theuns. The unlucky one is Fenn. Four major sectors to go, six kilometer to the next. At least the rain is easing off, not as heavy as forecasted. Group Kasperkiewicz at three minutes and out of contention.
Another sector done with Senechal, Wisniowski, Bewley and Kamyshev as quartet on the front row. Manakov, Anderberg, Ringheim, Neilands, Potts and Bohli lost contact here with Zubov, Grand and Tiller doing so before. Twenty kilometer to go.
Gerts opens the accelerations followed by Altur and Stallaert, and then Wisniowski. What will the damage to the others be? It only drops helpers Vanspeybrouck, Pedersen and Polanc.
Wisniowski proceeds to attacks with 15 to go right before the penultimate sector and gets a gap. Bewley forced to chase. Theuns struggles to follow the pace, his comeback took away valuable energy.
Two kilometer later and he has gap of half a minute and two backmarkers between him and the group of favorites. Theuns 20 seconds behind the group.
Blythe leads the group on the sector and reduces the gap by ten seconds. The others in a long line behind him. We only have one sector to go in three kilometer.
It almost seems the Pole waited as he is caught easily, while the pace of the group was still high enough to drop Sibilla. The contending dozen heading towards the final sector: Altur Bewley Blythe Gerts Kamyshev Per Senechal Spengler Stallaert Summerhill Teunissen Wisniowski
Final sector time! Altur to lead but the big three of Bewley, Wisniowski and Summerhill behind him. Sibilla already at a minute, completely imploded.
And we leave the sector with the same composition with which we entered. No one even tried to make a move or increase the pace. Are they happy to take it to a sprint? Bewley certainly is!
Per attacks on the smooth roads with six kilometer to go. Wisniowski follows the Slovenian, Teunissen having to leave a gap.
At the back of the queue we have another crack, catching Gerts, Spengler and Roubaix-winner Blythe off guard! Can they get back? The others have made it back to the leading duo.
2500 meters and the World Champion is forced to lead out the sprint of nine. Senechal in second position, Per in third and Bewley in fourth. Blythe doing everything in his power to get back, but the GPS shows a gap of twenty seconds.
We have lift-off! Bewley looking strong under the flag, already passing Per and bound to pass Senechal and Wisniowski. A small gap forming to Stallaert, while Altur, Teunissen, Summerhill and Kamyshev haven't kicked off yet.
The record champ does not look that strong, Per moves into the lead but the New Zealander, Senechal and Wisniowski centimeters behind. Stallaert not to be ruled out either with Altur reaching his back wheel.
Wisniowski takes the lead via the inside of the final turn, Bewley around the outside getting back up to speed again. Senechal fading away.
The situation changes by the meter as Bewley takes the lead, can Wisniowski recover or can Per go faster? Stallaert gaining ground but a bit too late for silverware.
It's number seven! The Earl of Empingham, Viscount of Oakham, record-breaking, history-making, Samuel Ryan Bewley has still got the spark ladies and gentleman!
A close finish for the remaining podium positions but it is Lukasz Wisniowski with silver and David Per with bronze. Both take their best result but have to wait another year for the top step of the podium.
Slightly less close for fourth but Florian Senechal edges out Joeri Stallaert. It is also the best result for both, with the aim of moving up again next time around.
The sprint for the lower top ten positions is won by Marcos Altur, the best wildcard rider in the race with Danny Summerhill right behind him. Mike Teunissen eighth, Arman Kamyshev ninth.
Floris Gerts takes the final top ten spot, and the only one from his group interested in a sprint. Lukas Spengler eleventh, and a disappointment for Adam Blythe in twelfth.
At 2'17 we find position thirteen, Sibilla. His teammate Theuns follows at 3'35 in fourteenth.
The sprint for the minor positions is won by Pedersen at + 4'49. Potts with a very good sixteenth as longest survivor of the breakaway. Polanc seventeenth, Manakov eighteenth, Ringheim nineteenth and Vanspeybrouck completing the top twenty. Neilands, Anderberg and Bohli also finish in this group.
At 5'35 is Tiller in twenty-fourth, Van Hooydonck in twenty-fifth and Grand in twenty-sixth. Completing the top thirty are Zubov, Sulimov and disappointments Kasperkiewicz and David. A total of 157 riders finish, Gesbert last at one hour and three minutes. Thirty-four riders didn't make it to the finish line, which isn't all that bad.
