We quickly get a breakaway of 23 riders. Best cobblers here should be Dahl-Olsen, Moricz, Eeckhout, Dakteris and Vahtra. Teams chasing are King Power, MOL, Huski, Carlsberg and Amaysim.
The leaders on the cobbles for the first time with 100 km to go. The peloton at 1’45”, as Vahtra has been blown back with a puncture.
90 km left as we are on the steep hill before the finish line for the first time as well. Neilands and Centrone with an attack in the peloton.
It takes the duo almost 15 km before they join the race lead, which must have cost a lot of energy. We cross the finish line again with 71.5 km to go, as Stallaert wants to scare the others by setting a hard pace for a bit. The peloton currently 2’50” behind the 24 leaders.
More and more riders get dropped in the peloton. 64 km left as guys such as Havik, Baugnies, Anderberg and the Carlsberg domestiques aren’t positioned well at all.
We still have fourteen early breakaway riders and Neilands in the lead with 47 km to the finish line. In the peloton, Basso, Jansen and Zhupa attack to try and reach that leading group. They are currently one minute behind, with a peloton of 83 at an additional 30”.
Benoot with some domestique work now, and that means the peloton is quickly thinning out! The Belgian with some heavy work on the cobbled hill before the finish line, as only 42 others are able to follow him! Big names missing out so far are Spengler, Theuns, Anderberg and Baugnies! Nine leaders still 50” ahead of the peloton, these are Neilands, Eeckhout, Dahl-Olsen, Moricz, Gallopin, Stannard, Nzeke, Dakteris and Videika. 40 km left!
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We’re down to six leaders with 31 km left as Dakteris, Neilands and Stannard can’t keep up anymore. In the peloton of 38, it’s favourite Summerhill setting the pace on a steeper sector.
Tinkoff’s Kamyshev now also chasing, which means they must be going for Senechal! He’s losing a bit of time against the six leaders though, as their lead goes up to 40” again.
But they’re already caught on the next cobbled hill. Stallaert, Summerhill and Polanc are the best positioned favourites with 22.5 km left!
A group of 21 has a small gap over the next group of favourites with 20 km to go! Ringheim setting the pace for leader Wisniowski!
Polanc is feeling good and attacks right after! Gerts and Stallaert the first on his wheel, with five other riders right behind them being Pedersen, Wisniowski, Trentin, Summerhill and David!
The first eight come together and have a gap of 25” over a chasing group at fifteen. The riders working to close the gap are Daniel, Van Hooydonck, Kasperkiewicz and Senechal, while Theuns has also made his way into this group! 13 km to go!
But Pedersen works hard on the flat and doesn’t let them come closer! Teammate Wisniowski attacks on the penultimate cobbled hill of the day, all the other rivals are able to follow though! David in trouble but he might survive! 10 km to go, the gap over the other fifteen favourites now one minute!
The Philips rider holds on for now! 7 km to go as we have one more non-cobbled hill before we go to the finish line, and as they are lapping several riders, Gerts attacks! Polanc tries to follow him!
Everybody seems to be able to follow, except for David! The six leaders have 6 km left and are 1’25” ahead of the following eight chasers, with David and Pedersen between those two groups.
Final 2 km as the six leaders are about to hit the last climb very soon! One of these six will be victorious, as the other favourites are already at 2’!
Wisniowski with the attack just before hitting the cobbled stones and with a bit more than 1 km to go! Bad call?!
600 meters left as the road gets steeper by the meter that passes! The six leaders still very close together, with former world champion Wisniowski still in the lead!
400 meters left now, percentages of up to 12%! Wisniowski holding on!
It’s a sprint of dying swans now! Stallaert dropping out with 200 meters left!
Gerts takes over inside the final 100 meters! Surely this is it for the Dutchman!
Yes! Gerts takes home the victory after a well-timed final push! Wisniowski (2nd) and Summerhill (3rd) complete the podium!
Polanc beats Trentin for fourth, as the Carlsberg rider is the first PCT rider ahead of Stallaert in sixth.
A strong David manages to finish seventh, with not Pedersen but Ringheim in eighth for Grieg. Budenieks in ninth is definitely something as well, whereas Kasperkiewicz completes the top-10 ahead of Van der Haar (11th) and Senechal (12th).
