We're ready for a very tough race through the Battenkill River Valley in upstate New York. It's a beautiful day, and the leaves are starting to change colors. Unfortunately, our television equipment won't be able to show you that, due to our extremely short view camera lenses and 144p broadcast resolution.
After a short, calm intro, the first attacks are away as we hit the first cobbled section. The riders going off are:
Bernas Mora Reckweg Nych
Andorra are already on the front and stretching things out, even though we're barely underway here. Bennelong are present too - a sign of good feelings for David?
As the weakest domestiques already start to crack, Orue is the first leader with issues. He's punctured and is trying to make his way back.
Having that many difficult km's early on meant that a "break of the day" didn't really happen. Nych has already dropped everyone else. Mora is chasing him at 1'20'', with the peloton next a further 1'20 back. The two attackers have already been reabsorbed.
Seems that Nych realized he has no chance of making it almost 200 km completely alone. He slows up a bit and lets Mora rejoin him.
And the peloton slows up, letting the gap go and letting some riders come back.
160 km to go, and Orue is back in the peloton with everyone else. The gap to the breakaway duo is now up to 5 minutes.
As we hit the next major cobbled climb, however, with about 130 km to go, the pace is upped a bit again. Everyone wants to be in good position for any splits.
The race has just been torn to shreds. The "peloton" is down to just 52 riders. No favorites have been caught out, but quite a few of the outsiders have been caught out of position by this, and are now scattered in groups a few hundred meters behind.
Once again the pace slows and all those previously mentioned get back in for the time being. Never good to be wasting energy trying to get back out 100 km left though.
Oh no! Disaster! Adam Blythe has had a puncture with 87 km to go. He gets a very quick change and isn't too far behind, but the problem is that he now has to make his way through the carnage of cracking domestiques in front of him.
Clearly no one is waiting around. Generali have joined the paceline and things are stretched out as they leave the cobbled sector.
Evonik have sent their whole team back and technically made contact, but the problem is that more riders keep getting dropped before they can move up, so they're still using more energy.
Nych has now set out alone again with 75 km to go. Gap is under 3 minutes to the peloton.
Behind, Blythe is finally positioned securely at the front again, and things have stabilized a bit.
Some firepower is being lost now in terms of the top domestiques. Machado is gone.
Mora is caught as the gap to the front continues to shrink to under 2 minutes.
Uh oh, 64 km left and we have another significant puncture. This time, it's young Pole Kasperkiewicz.
At the same time, Chatarunga and Bush are dropped.
We leave that sector with less than 30 riders in the front group, but again they ease off the gas pedal. There's a long stretch of flat tarmac ahead, and nobody wants to waste their energy pushing over it.
That's good news for Kasperkiewicz, who is able to get back in contact along with a bunch of others. The group swells to 54 riders by 40 km left, with the gap to Nych under a minute.
Back to the cobbles. 3 very hard and long sequential sectors now, paired with a bit of climbing. Ariesen has been sent to the front.
Panic! Just as Gerts sent his lieutenant to the front and looked to be setting something up, he punctures with 35 km to go! Horrendous timing as the race heats up again ahead.
But that's not all! as our camera bikes move forward, suddenly that Theuns is the next victim! The road surface must be terrible today. Perhaps karma strikes against Generali, as they came to the front after the Blythe puncture and really made that chase difficult. Now it's their man who's the victim.
Either these guys are on autopilot or they're just really dumb, because despite their 3 star favorite having punctured and caught behind, Gaday and De Gendt are still actively pacing on the front of the peloton, making his chase all the more difficult.
Gerts has two teammates come back as they leave the pave and is chasing hard to get back while he still can.
Just ahead of him, Theuns finally gets through to his teammates over radio, and they stop fighting him.
And at 25 km to go, both leaders are able to get back in touch, though eBuddy has been completely gutted of domestiques.
At the same time, Nych has finally been caught. It was a very valiant solo effort from him of almost 200 km's, but in the end he hardly had a chance. That means the peloton of still about 50 riders is now the front of the race.
And again, the pace completely stalls. There are only two cobbled sectors left now. One on a steep climb a bit over 10 km out, and then another on a gentler climb (incline wise) leading to the finish.
Finally, with 12 km left, Fenn accelerates on the right hand side of the road. It looks like Summerhill is trying to follow.
But it was a bluff from Summerhill. He sits up and lets the gap go to the Brit. We're just about to hit that final sector. Almost 3 km's of cobbles at a 10% gradient.
And as we hit that sector, Summerhill goes to work. We're suddenly stretched out and those still not in good position behind are scrambling to catch up. Fenn had very momentarily gotten about a 30 second gap, but it's wiped out even faster than it was made.
And he has a gap! Vanmarcke was 2nd wheel as they went under the 20 km banner (with 10 km left for whatever reason), but he has cracked and let the American slip away!
With his domestiques falling aside, Theuns takes up the pacing himself. He's trying to keep the gap small as they near the top, but it's already starting to grow. Meanwhile, some of the leaders are dangerously poorly positioned. Teunissen isn't where he should be, and Kasperkiewicz is even further behind.
As he reaches the top, Summerhill has already pulled out 50 seconds. His strength is just completely unmatched.
A first chase group has formed behind containing 8 riders.
Theuns Vanmarcke Vanspeybrouck Blythe David Altur Debesay Gerts
Gerts is dangerously dangling off the back and looks pretty tired from all his efforts today. Meanwhile, Vanspeybrouck goes to the radio and asks for instructions. Andorra are clearly well set up here.
Vanbilsen chases 20 seconds behind, following a strong Gaday. Marzuki is about 15 seconds behind them.
A further half minute behind (about 2 minutes behind Summerhill), we have a small group of domestiques that contains an underperforming Maxime Daniel as well as Neilands. Notably, The King Power rider is Vanthourenhout and the Gazelle rider is Kruijswijk, while their leaders are further behind.
Indeed, the Teunissen groups is next, just a couple hundred meters behind, and about to bridge.
Kasperkiewicz is even further still, and is almost out of it at this point. Clearly he and his team couldn't recover from his puncture well enough energy wise.
Gerts is stronger but with a similar issue and trend. He has cracked from the front group jsut as he's caught by Vanbilsen, Gaday, and Marzuki, who also look fried.
The first chase group might be working well together on this short descent and flat section, but they're not making a dent in the gap.
This man is all alone, pushing towards another victory. Just one more cobbled sector to conquer.
With about 5 km to go, the second and third chase groups have officially combined, spitting the slower member out the back and leaving a selection.
Teunissen Malecki Kruijswijk Gerts Vanbilsen Daniel Gaday Marzuki Neilands Riesebeek
Both Evonik and Gazelle are well represented for depth scoring, although the former will be much happier knowing that their leader is up the road. They're still 40 seconds behind that group.
Debesay decides he's not looking to sprint for 2nd place and attacks with 3 km to go, but it's now over a minute for this group, so it will be very tough.
1.5 km of cobbles and about a 3% incline, that's all that stands between Summerhill and victory.
The chases neutralize Debesay as they pass the same spot a minute later. It also looks like a long sprint up the hill has already begun.
But that's all in the distance, and clearly no longer a concern for our soon to be winner.
Though he's 2000 miles from his hometown in Colorado, it will still feel amazing to win on home soil wearing the stars and stripes. Summerhill has conquered the Tour of the Battenkill!
1 km for the chasers, and Vanmarcke pops first.
Theuns is next as the remaining riders go 5 wide into the final 500 meters!
Blythe puts in a very hard dig that separates them out. David is gunning for the inside, while Altur tries to get up to speed.
Debesay's attack might be hurting him, and Vanspeybrouck is in a similar position in that final row.
200 meters of cobbles too many for David, who pulls up on the right.
Altur has got his engine going and is starting to gain on the left, but there's not much road left.
The false flat levels off, and Altur makes a clean pass on the left.
And Altur is your runner up. Not a bad performance at all for him. Only one man had the legs to win, but he at least meets expectations for once.
3rd for Blythe, which means the top 3 favorites get the top 3 places here. He's also the only puncture victim who seems to have recovered fully, likely thanks to the work of his strong team and the amount of distance out he had it.
David with a very strong race in 4th suggests that the hills definitely had an impact on today's finish. He had a lot of support early, but managed to ride the final act entirely alone without any issues.
Debesay just edges out Vanspeybrouck for the top 5. That's a very good result for the former, though he's probably kicking himself for his strategy in the final kilometers. Then again, using his acceleration to get a gap ahead of the cobbles might have been his best bet at the podium.
For Vanspeybrouck, it's just another day of his solid result being a bonus thanks to the win of his teammate.
Theuns is next in 7th. Definitely wanted more, but we'll never know what he could have done without the puncture.
That can be contrasted with Vanmarcke in 8th, who had his pure strength tested twice, and got an answer. He wasn't terrible, but clearly could match those top watts today.
The teams with leaders behind will not be happy to see the rich getting richer. Neilands and Marzuki sprinted away on the final hill to take 9th and 10th, meaning 3 Evonik riders in the top 10. Again - they had to work early on, which makes this even more impressive.
Gaday also a superdomestique in 11th, then Riesebeek with even more Evonik scoring in 12th.
Not a fun day for any of these guys. Teunissen watches his teammate Kruijswijk ride away to 13th, while he settles for 14th.
Gerts next in 15th, and you really have to feel for him and his team. Definitely feels like the puncture was the difference maker for him, as he was just a sliver away from staying with that front group before cracking in the end and falling behind weaker riders.
Vanbilsen doesn't have such excuses. 16th is well below what his manager will have wanted here, and it's only due to his own inability.
And who even knows what happened to Maxime Daniel today. He clearly forgot to drink his milk this morning. 17th, and in a very anonymous manner. He never really looked close to the level he should have been at today.
Not as bad as Kasperkiewicz though in 24th. This will be a learning experience for him, as well as a moment of warning about the profession and discipline he has chosen, and all its dangers. Even without crashing, your race can change in a split second.
