Welcome to the 2021 Lincoln GP! 15 teams from the CT division are here today to stake their claim to the tenth edition of this race. Most notably Vanspeybrouck, Van Keirsbulck and Tsatevich. All things considered, it should be an exciting day of racing!
Bauhaus is the first to attack. He is followed by a group of 3 containing Hellemose, Lauk and Vuillermoz.
After some back and forth between the attackers and the peloton, they finally relent and 12 riders are 1’58” clear after 27km. The riders in the break are:
Bauhaus
Rojas
Gogl
Urianstad
Lauk
Andersson
Hellemose
Vuillermoz
Umerbekov
King
Kluge
Oss
Most notable names here are veteran Kluge and Bauhaus. No other riders appear to have any discernable talent over the cobbles. Bauhaus is also here as his team’s leader today so a very interesting tactic to attack from the get-go.
The break enter the cobbled sections for the fourth time with 110km to go. As you can see, there is a short 4-star rated section the riders are currently riding over before they reach the cobbled hill (2-star) in the background with a small amount of pavement in between. The peloton will have to ride across the smaller flat section on 6 of the 13 circuits today.
Gogl punctures in the break at the worst possible time! It’s going to be difficult for him to get back into this group now, who are still all working well together. Kluge is getting a free ride so far, sitting at the back of the group while teammate Oss contributes to the work. 83km remain.
Gogl swallowed by the pack with 60km to go. Since the last ascent, the peloton has split into three groups but come back together again before this cobbled sector. Crabbe, HelloFresh and Trans doing the bulk of the work at the moment and are 1’38” to the break.
46km remaining and carnage in the peloton! Domene doing a hard turn in the peloton has caused it to fracture into 4 groups! Only 25 other riders able to keep his wheel. The second group behind the peloton at 45” contain some huge names: Puccio, Taubel, Kristoff, Kolev, Taillefour, Corwin, Naesen and Declerq.
The break is unexpectedly caught just after the second cobbled section with 35km to go. The peloton has nearly completely come back together – the most notable names still behind are Puccio, Taillefour and Corwin who trail the peloton of 48 by 1’11”.
The peloton splits again just after the cobbled sector. Teammates Naesen and Domene are the two biggest casualties, but it’s not surprising as they have both been doing a lot of work today. They have fallen back into the Puccio group who are stuck at 1’35” behind the front of the race. 17km to race.
And here we go! Vanspeybrouck couldn’t wait until the approaching cobbled sectors and decides to go now with 14km remaining!
He crests the hill with Vanmarcke, Van Keirsbulck and Tsatevich right behind!
The riders at the fron have come together under the 10km banner, except with Vanmarcke who just can’t seem to get across. A group of 13 is chasing hard 33” behind that includes Orue, Nielsen, Declerq, Ariesen, Thwaites, Kumara, Kolev, Bugge, a strong Vuillermoz, Richardson, Taubel, Oelerich and Ovsyannikov.
Vanmarcke finally makes it with 8km to race. The front quintet has a 28” gap to the now group of 12 behind as Ovsyannikov is dropped. Nielsen is doing all of the work in this group and isn’t making a dent on the leaders advantage.
Vanspeybrouck has a dig with just over 5km to go! He’s looked very strong today and tries hard to get away. He doesn’t manage to get a gap as Tsatevich closed him down and now goes to the front. He did however extend the front group’s advantage to 36”.
2km to race and the gap to the leaders is melting away very quickly, it’s down to 16”! Very curious however as it’s Tsatevich’s teammate Ariesen working on the front to bring it all back together? Very strange tactics from Crabbe.
And it’s all back together under the red kite! The quintet still just in front of the group being lead by Kumara with Ariesen, Kolev and Thwaites just behind.
500m to ride as the riders hit the cobbled wall and start their sprint! Tsatevich in front with by Kumara, Ariesen and Van Keirsbulck, then Vanspeybrouck, Vanmarcke and Thwaites. A few lapped riders ahead who hopefully won’t interfere with the finish.
Tsatevich still leads with 200m to go! Kumara has cracked and is going backwards. Van Keirsbulck has moved into second and Ariesen third. Vanmarcke and Vanspeybrouck next. Thwaites can’t hang on at the back. Taubel and Kolev leading the group behind and are about to start the climb.
The riders are absolutely at their limits as Tsatevich celebrates very early! Still a distance from the line but he looks safe. Van Keirsbulck then just ahead of Vanmarcke, Ariesen and Vanspeybrouck.
And indeed, he does cross first! Alexey Tsatevich has won the 2021 Lincoln GP! He rode well today and showed his competitors that he is definitely the superior climber. Van Keirsbulck does well to finish 2nd and Ariesen 3rd! Two on the podium for Crabbe. Vanspeybrouck 4th and a fading Vanmarcke coming in 5th. Kumara 6th and Thwaites 7th.
The next group comes in with Taubel taking 8th. Richardson finishes 9th and Declerq rounds out the top-10. The next finishers are: Orue 11th, Bugge 12th, Kolev 13th, Nielsen 14th and Vuillermoz a strong 15th.
A terrific result here for Tsatevich today, who has won this race two years straight now and now holds the win record here as well! Also a terrific race for Crabbe, with two on the podium and three in the top-10. Looking at the team, it’s the kind of dominance you would expect. Van Kiersbulck rode strongly here and should not be disappointed with 2nd. HelloFresh will also be delighted to have three finishers inside the top-10 too with Kuamara and Thwaites 6th and 7th and an all-round good team performance.
Vanspeybrouck will be disappointed with 4th, although he fought valiantly. He knew he’d have to drop the superior climbers in Tsatevich and Van Keirsbulck to have a chance and he didn’t die wondering here.
Vanmarcke ended up doing well for 5th as it looked like he spent a lot of energy earlier on trying to bridge to the front group. Teammate Taubel was the strongest in the second group and with his 8th place will make up for Vanmarcke missing the podium. Richardson also fought well for 9th.
Other finishers are Ovsyannikov in 17th, Teggart in 20th, Taillefour in 39th.
