The first C2 race of the third month of the year and the third C2 cobbles classic of the year. The best Northern Classics specialists of the CT and a few PCT competitors are here to fight for the race win. This is always a hard race for the riders and this season is not expected to be any different. Let's see how this goes.
Ten riders make up the break of the day on the second cobbled hill. They are:
Debusschere Louvel Boeckmans, Van Dijke, Hollmann Bonneu, Van Den Bosche Kristoff Kelly, Redy
Caja Rural are setting the pace at the front with 150 kilometers to go. Bonneu and Redy have been caught already. The gap to the rest of the break is 3'41". The peloton has 76 riders.
Taubel, Nielsen and Jans attack with 108 kilometers to go.
Kaislavuo, Richardson, Vanmarcke, Lietaer, Abraha and De Bondt also attack a few kilometers later.
The two recent attacking groups come together with 88 kilometers to go.
They catch the original breakaway 2 kilometers later.
The peloton are on the seventh of eighteen plus laps. 39 riders remain. 80 kilometers to go. Sweeck and Domene are at the front.
Chaturanga and Sinkeldam have been dropped.
Vanmarcke is dropped from the break and caught with 76 kilometers to go. Over the next 7 kilometers, Kelly, Nielsen, Jans and Taubel are also caught.
Manakov, Dakteris and Silva have dropped back to help Chaturanga. Hagen, Bernas and Horvat are also in this group.
Abraha and Richardson are caught with 68 kilometers remaining. De Bondt is caught 2 kilometers later.
Nolf tries an attack and makes it stick (apologies for missing the picture).
Lietaer is caught with 44 kilometers to go. Nolf and Van Den Bosche are caught a couple of kilometers later.
Sweeck, Breen, Sinkeldam, having recovered from being dropped earlier, Matthews and Nolf have attacked and are chasing down the break. 40 kilometers to go.
18 riders remain in the peloton:
Batmunkh, Orue Schlecter Vliegen, Lampaert, Giuletti Chaturanga, Hnik Vermeersch Van Den Bossche, Ariesen Marcos, De Witte Paprstka, Fenn Juul-Jensen Sanikwathi Konwa
The Breen group has been caught by the peloton just a kilometer later, from where Fenn has been dropped.
Sinkeldam attacks a couple of kilometers later and catches Van Dijke.
Ariesen, Marcos, Debusschere and Sanikwathi have been dropped from the pack. Nolf is even further back.
Ariesen and Marcos make it back to the pack.
Van Dijke is caught with 33 kilometers to go. 5 kilometers later, Kristoff, Sinkeldam and Boeckmans are also caught.
Kaislavuo has a 1'44" lead to the peloton at the moment. 25 kilometers remain.
Matthews attacks from the pack. He only lasts a couple of kilometers.
Another kilometer later, Chaturanga, Vermeersch, Breen and Paprstka attack.
All of them and Kaislavuo are caught with 19 kilometers to go.
Breen attacks again just a kilometer later.
Breen leads by 48 seconds with 8 kilometers to go.
The chase group is quite spread out but still has 12 riders trying to chase down the lone leader:
Chaturanga Vermeersch Orue Lampaert Paprstka Sinkeldam Ariesen De Witte, Sweeck, Marcos Juul-Jensen Kaislavuo
Breen's lead has reduced just slightly to 44 seconds as he rides over the penultimate cobbled section. 5 kilometers to go.
De Witte and Sweeck are dropped with 3 kilometers remaining.
Breen is caught with 1.5 kilometers to go. The pack sped up quite a bit there!
Vermeersch, Marcos and Sinkeldam are at the front with a kilometer to go.
Paprstka powers into the lead with 600 meters left. Sinkeldam is next with Juul-Jensen also there.
400 meters. It's four riders with a gap! Paprstka leads from Chaturanga, followed by Sinkeldam and Marcos.
Paprstka still leads with 200 meters to go. Sinkeldam is up into 2nd, ahead of Chaturanga. Marcos is tiring.
Marcos is dropping back as we enter the final 100 meters. Paprstka is holding on to the lead but Sinkeldam has closed in considerably.
With 50 meters to go, it's even closer between the front two!
Paprstka takes the win upsetting the odds and a few stronger riders! Sinkeldam is 2nd.
Chaturanga is 3rd.
Breen pips Marcos to 4th.
Kaislavuo takes an excellent 6th after his breakaway ride. Vermeersch is 7th.
Juul-Jensen takes 8th ahead of Lampaert and Orue.
Ariesen is 11th.
Sweeck finishes 12th, just ahead of teammate De Witte.
Matthews is 14th.
Hnik completes the Top 15.
Today's winner - Tomas Paprstka.
Paprstka takes a famous win and and important one for his team. Sinkeldam and Chaturanga join him on the podium. The latter duo were both dropped from the peloton around the 80 kilometer mark but recovered remarkably to stand on the podium. Breen was also at his attacking best today but didn't have the best positioning in the lead up to the line. Marcos took a good 5th for the PCT boys.
