And we are off. The Belgian race organisation believes the following ten names have the biggest chance of eternal glory.
Van Gils, Van den Berg and Alexander are the first attackers of the day. You’d think they would get some space, but Philips, Voyagin and Bralirwa immediately start working and don’t let the gap exceed twenty seconds for now.
Vabo tried closing the gap as the peloton finally let go a bit, but the Norwegian breaks down as he is 10” from the race lead. Heartbreak for the youngster. Some more movement in the peloton now though, maybe he still manages to find his way to the head of the race?
A constant stream of attacks but only now, after more than 40 km into the race, two more succeed in coming to the front. Mayer and Froidevaux in the lead now, only Alexander able to follow them! Peloton, where Cedevita and Xero also have their domestiques now (including Avenir winner Pogacar) only at 45” of the race lead! First puncture of the race was for Xero’s Fouche, hopefully that doesn’t mean the rest of their material also is not cobble-proof.
The Huisepontweg is the first real long(er) cobbled sector of the day, albeit not very hard. Still 210 km left and many of the youngsters here already thinking of getting of their bike as the chaos has started way sooner than most of them hoped for.
Shortly after is the Doorn, which is harder. Froidevaux doesn’t need any friends and leaves the pink Podium duo behind. Andersen trying to bridge the gap, with the peloton still very close. 207 km left, this might be an even bigger slaughterhouse than Roubaix Espoirs last season.
Five guys up front now, as the Swiss gets joined by Boileau, Garrison and Juntunen. Brazilian champion Finkler also joins the party. 20+ riders have given up already and trail the peloton by a minute. 199 km to go. Peloton finally letting go though, as they trail by 3’30” now.
The gap never gets bigger than 4’ though. With 130 km left we have some guys trying to anticipate by attacking from the peloton: Rojas, Kelly and Bayer. They quickly succeed in reaching the front of the race, using the Bosberg to catch the five leaders. Eight men up front now, 2’ over the peloton.
118 km to go and we are on the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen! In the leading group, Kelly and Rojas let the others know they are simply superior. Let’s see if something juicy happens in the peloton as well. Peloton currently existing out of 120-ish riders, but right after the Bosberg it looked scattered already.
The favourites cross the top at 2’30” of the leading duo. The first names here are Stavrakakis, Hollmann, Pidcock, Meeus, Vermeersch, Wright, Hesters, Siric, Schmid and Jorgenson.
Only 30-ish riders left in the peloton now, with some interesting names on domestique duty already: Ardila for Cedevita, Stannard for Xero, Agrotis for Voyagin, Philipsen for Philips and Visser for Zwift. Bayer has joined the race lead, making it three at the front with more or less 100 km left.
90 km to go as nobody else is between the three leaders and the peloton of 35 anymore, with the difference being 1’30” now. Perez was in that group as well, but with his third puncture of the day has been blown back to to another trailing group. At the moment it’s unlikely for anyone to come back to the peloton of 35 though, with their lead over the rest of the field increasing by the minute.
Rojas wants to go solo and leaves the other two leaders behind with 80 km to go. In the peloton of 32, Hollmann and Wright now try to anticipate as well and attack.
Good move apparently, as five leaders regroup on cobbled sector Kerkgate with 72 km to go: Rojas, Kelly, Bayer, Hollmann and Wright with a fifty second lead over the peloton of 31, where every couple of km’s we see another rider biting the dust. At the end of Kerkgate the peloton has even been reduced to 27 riders, with Tediashvili amongst those dropped. Still around ten cobbled sectors to go, many of them uphill
The Kattenberg, with 65 km left, proves to be too hard for Kelly and Bayer, leaving us with three leaders. In the peloton the big guys come to the front, and super domestiques or even leaders such as Reynders, Van Moer and Hirschi are in trouble as well!
Brunel with a big turn on the Holleweg (63 km left) and all the leaders are caught immediately! Currently 21 riders left in the leading group, but with some riders dying quickly gaps are starting to appear. The two Jura riders at the back of this group, so maybe Brunel should have waited a bit? Easier said than done in these extreme circumstances!
Vermeersch leads the group of favourites over the Eikenberg with 59 km to go, and the group breaks apart even more! Only ten riders left in the group with 58 km to go! Aside from the Belgian Xero talent we see Rutsch, Brunel, Meeus, Stavrakakis, Pidcock, Leknessund, Siric, Schmid and Matsangos! Jorgenson right behind this group, but not the first time the American is trying to close a gap in this race anymore! Hirschi, Van Moer and Dekker the next riders in the race, but we also don’t see them coming back anymore. Next up is de Koppenberg!
Meeus setting the pace on the Koppenberg with 44 km left! Immediately after we have the Steenbeekdries. Who will be the first rider(s) to get dropped?!
A group of five seemed to get away, but Matsangos came back with Siric, Vermeersch and Rutsch! Domestique Brunel out for real now, as a man with a real lionheart, Vermeersch, immediately comes back to the front of this leading group of nine. A lot of faith in leader Pidcock at Xero! 41 km left!
The Belgian is really done for now! 38 km to the finish line as our eight leaders head onto the Taaienberg!
Just before the top it’s Cypriot Matsangos who has to let the others go! With 37 km to go and 2 km until the next cobbled sector we can see Schmid attacking!
The small cobbled sector the Donderij sees Pidcock, Stavrakakis and Meeus come back! Behind them Rutsch is having a very hard time now, meaning Leknessund and Siric are also in danger of getting dropped!
But except for the German, the other two are able to follow for now! Pidcock doesn’t need cobbles to attack with his punchy acceleration, and attacks on a non-cobbled steep uphill sector of just below 10% with 32 km left! 5.6 km to go until the Oude Kruisberg!
Mighty acceleration by the Brit! The other five try working together, but are already one minute behind at top of the Oude Kruisberg and with 26 km left! Still some obstacles to come obviously, but the Xero rider looks to be giving everybody a hell of a demonstration today!
Bosnian champion Siric now unable to follow the other four chasers, looks like he will finish just outside of the top-5 today! Paterberg coming up!
The Paterberg is short, but steep. Pidcock now with a 1’20” lead inside the final 20 km! Siric also showing bravery as he’s back within the group of five chasers! Two cobbled sectors to come!
Oh no, Pidcock in trouble on the final ascent of the day, the Oude Kwaremont! The four chasers (Siric dropped again) at 1’05” all of a sudden with the Brit going uphill slowly now! Can he survive this final hill?!
The extreme weather conditions are not making this any easier! Stavrakakis with a big move now, not standing up, but leaving everyone behind! Meeus coming closest, but also unable to follow the Greek. Will Pidcock survive until the top and be able to use his sprint against Stavrakakis?!
The Greek next to Pidcock now! Still some cobbles, but getting flatter!
Small gap, but Pidcock not totally done for yet!
13” gap at the top! Can Pidcock use his better descending abilities and theoretical better stamina now, or is he done for? Less than 15 km for Stavrakakis to reach eternal glory and really start this new era of Greek cycling with a bang! In theory he is the better rouleur, and the remaining cobbled section should also suit him a bit more! What a finale, what a race!
This is not just a sprint of dying swans, but a final 15 km of dying swans! What an epic battle between the two, constantly both gaining and losing maximum one second now! The Varentstraat coming up might be more decisive than ever before! Meeus already at 45”.
This seems to be it! The Greek reaching the end of the Varent with 25” over Pidcock and 7.5 km left!
Oh yeah, he can see the city of Oudenaarde with 2.5 km to go! Half a minute over Pidcock, an additional thirty seconds over Meeus! Farantakis is going to win the Ronde Van Vlaanderen Espoirs 2021!
And here he is! Superb ride by Stavrakakis to win it today! He finishes in a time of 7h16'54"!
Magnificent ride by Pidcock, but obviously very disappointed for now! 32” later he comes over the line in second. He will definitely be back for more next year!
Half a minute later we can see Meeus finishing on the podium as well.
The riders coming in one by one now, after a race to be remembered for a long time. Schmid is fourth at 2’ of winner Stavrakakis. Leknessund and Siric fifth and sixth at 2’20” and 2’45” respectively.
Rutsch seventh at 3’20”, with Matsangos eight at 4’50” and super domestiques Vermeersch and Brunel rounding out the top-10 at 5’10” and 7’20”. Fifteen riders do not finish inside the time limit of 1h24”.
