Welcome to Berlin, where the spring sunshine greets us and the riders for what should be a big showdown between the best PCT and some CT sprinters. The race is a little under 200 kilometers long, so stamina is not expected to play too much of a part. However, strong winds are expected in the closing stages, which could make it challenging for the pack when they approach the finish at high speeds.
Favourites
FL
ST
RS
SP
AC
Ahlstrand
Jonas
74
74
73
83
82
Volcanica - Fox
Kennaugh
Peter
76
73
70
81
80
HelloFresh - Lampre
Howard
Leigh
75
74
69
81
78
Indosat Ooredoo
Zabel
Rick
74
74
70
81
79
Kraftwerk Man Machine
Vesely
Daniel
73
74
68
81
80
Minions - Subwoolfer
Halvorsen
Kristoffer
76
74
71
81
80
Red Bull Zalgiris
Silvestre
Fabio
78
70
71
80
81
Bralirwa - Stevens
Bonifazio
Niccolo
79
68
75
80
80
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
Liu
Jiankun
74
76
69
80
80
Voyagin - Bird
Jakobsen
Fabio
74
75
73
80
80
Zara - Irizar
Coutinho
Lionel
72
75
74
79
80
Assa Abloy
Guardini
Andrea
71
72
67
79
80
Caja Rural Cycling Team
Reinhardt
Theo
71
73
66
79
84
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
Kanter
Max
75
75
73
79
80
Tryg - Gobik
Nine riders make the jump into the break of the day in the opening kilometers. They are:
Sam Mathis Yudha Reynders Dahlberg Bellan Garcia Uhiriwe Mulubrhan
Jumping ahead to 100 kilometers to go, HelloFresh, Crabbe-CC, Voyagin, Red Bull and Volcanica are controlling things at the front.
15 riders have fallen off the back of the peloton already including Bauhaus, Cimolai and Grosser.
Jumping ahead again to 40 kilometers to go, the break now lead by just 38 seconds. They are still working well together.
Bonifazio is dropped from the pack with 32 kilometers remaining. He's completely isolated at the moment.
Covi did drop back to help his team leader but they're still some way from making it back.
The break is caught with 27 kilometers remaining.
With 10 kilometers left, it is Minions and HelloFresh have taken over at the front.
Bonifazio's hopes of making it back are long gone as the gap has only widened in the recent kilometers. More riders have been dropped recently, but no other favourites.
Breen, Dzamastagic, Arashiro, Richardson and Yzeiraj don't want to wait for the sprint and attack with 3 kilometers to go!
500 meters later, Edmondson attacks and catches a dropped Yzeiraj.
1500 meters. Dzamastagic and Breen have a gap at the front. Arashiro and Richardson are just behind. Bogdanovics has attacked from the pack and goes past Edmondson and Yzeiraj.
Dzamastagic goes for it with a kilometer to go. Breen, Arashiro, Richardson, Edmondson and Bogdanovics are together and chasing.
Dzamastagic has extended his lead with 500 meters left. There's no way he's getting caught now surely!
300 meters. The finish line is within reach for Dzamastagic now. Behind, the pack are closing in on the five chasers.
Dzamastagic takes the win! It's all business as he doesn't even slow down to celebrate.
100 meters to go for the chasing quintet. The pack are closing faster than ever.
But they run out of road! Arashiro pips Breen to 2nd place. Richardson is 4th followed by Bogdanovics. Edmondson is 6th.
Ahlstrand is the fastest of the bunch and takes 7th ahead of Zabel.
Kennaugh makes it another excellent result for HelloFresh finishing 9th. Vesely is 10th.
Jakobsen claims 11th ahead of Howard and Halvorsen.
Reinhardt and Coutinho complete the Top 15.
Today's winner - Mark Dzamastagic.
Dzamastagic continues to do for his new team what he used to do for his old team! Following the decisive attack and making the winning move at the perfect time gives him an excellent win and his keeps his team's good start to the season going. Arashiro also takes a good 2nd place from the same move. Breen, the initiator of the winning attack, has to settle for 3rd, which is also a good result for them.
