W're here at the start line in Dunkerque - it's a nice, sunny day so perfect for racing!
Attacks begin as soon as the flag is dropped. Okbamariam is the first rider to try his luck, along with Yates and Molard.
They are eventually joined by another 8 riders, forming what would appear to be the day’s break. The peloton is chasing hard though with Minions, Carlsberg and Lierse with riders on the front. The break’s gap is 1’55 after 30km.
As the peloton ascends the first climb of the day, Altur punctures. He never loses contact and hopefully this will be the only bad luck he encounters today.
Sweeck punctures too and does lose contact.
After a lot of back and forth, 8 riders have settled at the front of the race. They are:
Okbamariam
Peng
Venturini
Moricz
Rutsch
Jacobs
Liu
Jans
So Eurosport, Bralirwa and UBS with a rider in the break. They currently lead by 1’45, with the peloton still setting a high pace behind.
Rutsch falls off the back of the break with still over 100km to go. Okbamariam looks tired, he’s done a lot of work since forming the break so it is not surprising. He is the strongest rider in front of the peloton so hopefully he can recover and stay with him compatriots. Peng is looking good doing a lot of work on the front. There’s no real slouches in this group and they are working well together.
Kulppi is the next victim of the road surface as he punctures on the 3rd of 9 circuits. He easily rejoins the peloton. The break have increased their advantage to 2’23 whilst Rutsch is still caught in no mans land.
Nechita working hard in the peloton along with Suter and Aleotti. The gap is down to 2’ with 84km remaining. Rutsch has been caught.
On the 6th ascent, Bush is dropped. Nolf, Declerq, Domene, Manakov, Kolev and Thwaites have also been dropped
With 4 ascents and 43km to go, the relentless pacemaking of Sinkeldam has brought the gap under a minute to 55 seconds. Bush’s day is done as he’s struggling in a group nearly 2 minutes behind the 50-strong peloton.
Cresting the climb, Sinkeldam’s pace has managed to drop a few notable riders: Naesen, Lampaert, Kuroeda, Insausti and Kumara. Liu has been dropped from the break group who are now ahead by only 49”.
Okbamariam attacks as the break hit the small, steep climb. Peng and Jans follow. Liu has been caught by the peloton.
After he had a quick break, Sinkeldam hits the front as soon as the peloton hits the cobbled climb again with Trentin in tow, and they get a gap! All the other favourites are disorganised as the majority of riders at the front are domestiques. The Carlsberg duo have 14” to the pack and trail the three leaders by 31” as Venturini and Jacobs have been dropped and caught.
The Carlsberg duo catch the leaders with 25km still to race. Their advantage over the constantly diminishing peloton of 23 is 39”. Bohli and Puccio have been dropped from the pack.
They go straight past the break who can only hold on to Trentin’s wheel. Marcos and Owen giving it everything rotating the pacemaking duties in the pack. Leader’s advantage now at 29”.
The leaders are brought back with 21km to race as the peloton starts to climb again. Stallaert is at the back of this group, he’s going to need to get closer to the front and quick.
Van Keirsbulck has been spat out the back of the peloton! There was no mention of a puncture over race radio and he was well positioned, so maybe the former winner just doesn’t have the legs? Hehas 33” to make up and has Schoonbroodt for company.
15km to go. Owen leads the front group of 23 riders onto the last circuit, and second last ascent of the main cobbled climb. Stallaert, Daniel and Vanspeybrouck are the worst positioned riders at the back. Schoonbroodt has made it back without GVK who must not be feeling good today.
They’re all lined up behind Trentin. He’s riding smart and riding on the roadside with Spengler and Vanbilsen directly in his wheel. Owen, Müller and Moricz are dropped.
It’s again Trentin animating the race on the downhill! He attacks! Altur, Blythe, Zepuntke and David follow with Vanbilsen, Daniel, Vanspeybrouck and Stallaert following.
The front 9 riders come together as Spengler leads the chase in a group containing Sinkeldam, Okbamariam, Kuroeda, Marcos, Jans, Anderberg, Tsatevich, Ariesen, Peng and Jansen. This group trails by 25” with 11km remaining
The groups merge to form a front group of 20. The favourites take the foot off the gas allowing helpers to come back to the front, namely Sinkeldam and Marcos.
Vanspeybrouck goes for it under the 5k banner! An attentive Altur, Zepuntke and Blythe jump on his wheel.
This attack results in the same 9 riders + Tsatevich getting a gap. Again Spengler and Anderberg are left behind and forced to chase.
Spengler nearly makes contact behind as David lays his cards on the table! Stallaert and Daniel respond!
They’re about to hit the cobbles and they’ve got a good gap here! Daniel couldn't follow. The groups behind have merged which has caused confusion. The leaders have a 32” advantage with 1.8km to race!
Vanspeybrouck goes again in pursuit! Trentin tries to get into his slipstream as the leading duo have started the final cobbled sector. They have 35” gap to Vanspeybrouck and a further 6” to the peloton.
Going under the 1km banner, David and Stallaert are soldiering on. They have a 16” gap to Vanspeybrouck, Trentin, Altur and Zepuntke. They then have 15” gap to the larger group of 15 riders still being dragged by Spengler. Hopefully the many lapped riders don’t interfere here. Vanbilsen looking tired in the Spengler group.
Stallaert goes up the inside and overtakes David! 600m remain. David has been on the front since his attack and Stallaert is looking fresher. They maintain the same gap to the following quartet.
Stallaert now with a small gap to David! They can both see the line now but are both starting to rock in the saddle. Vanspeybrouck has blown up behind as Trentin explodes away from that group, he’s coming very quickly. Zepuntke and a strong Spengler next and then Altur, Vanspeybrouck and Daniel. Blythe and Tsatevich a little further back.
Stallaert still in front, David won’t catch him! Trentin falters and is overtaken by Spengler. It would take a miracle to take this from Stallaert now. The situation behind is the same with Blythe trying to move up now.
He even has time to celebrate. Stallaert wins! What a victory!
David has to settle for 2nd. He fought valiantly up the final climb, but just couldn’t stay with Stallaert around the final bend.
Spengler fights hard to complete the podium, and Trentin will have to make do with 4th after his efforts here.
Zepuntke, Altur and Vanspeybrouck come in next, 5th, 6th & 7th.
Ariesen finishes strong to take 8th, with Anderberg and Kuroeda 9th and 10th.
The next trio will all have hoped to have done better. Daniel, Blythe and Tsatevich would all have dreamed of a better finish, but just miss the top-10.
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Stallaert adds another win to his tally and continues his stellar season. He rode the perfect race today – he conserved energy very well and even risked sitting at the back of the peloton to stay out of trouble – but picked the right attack and let David do the hard yards on the front before leaving him behind. He’s again proven to be the best cobbled rider in the PCT. Okbamariam in the top-20 after spending the day in the break to is a nice bonus.
Bittersweet for David, so close to victory but 2nd is still a great result. Spengler rode his guts out today and is rewarded with a podium. Hills aren’t his favourite but his huge engine kept him going all day. Trentin was one of the most animated riders and really gave it a good go. He ran out of steam in the finale possibly due to his earlier attacks, but can b very happy with 4th. Sinkeldam was exceptional, and managed to finish 14th himself. Zepuntke looked strong and put in a top performance to finish 5th just ahead of Altur in 6th who rode smart today, but just missed the big moves. Vanspeybrouck was the most combative today lighting the race up and his team should be proud of his hard fought 7th place. A good day for Crabbe as Ariesen flew up the final hill for 8th, along with Tsatevich’s 13th. Anderberg solid yet somewhat quiet but considering he’s best suited to flatter races finished well, as did Kuroeda.
Vanbilsen and Van Keirsbulck in 19th and 26th surely not as good as their managers would have hoped.
