Italy and the province of Latium welcomes the PT riders for the Roma Maxima, a 196 km long race, with a hill in the middle and a cobbled finish.
The expert see the Tinkoff duo of Kamyshev and Senechal as favorites, along with Pedersen, who won Milano – San Remo and Ronde van Vlaanderen this year already.
It’s raining! Rain and cobblestones, does that ring a bell? That doesn’t stop the early attacks, as soon as the race begins. Eekhoff, Sobrero, Goldstein, Ulloa and Pira already are in controlling position.
For now, they seem fine with a big breakaway. Let’s see how long that continues.
With 15 km done, all teams who wanted to be in the break were able to do so. We’ll wait for them to regroup to give you a vision on them all. Burmann, Lopez Nolasco and Dujardin joined the chase.
And we have 22 men in the break! With 170 km to go, they have a gap of 3’44.
Schinnagel punctured with 155 km to go, but he should be able to get back into the pack.
The main teams working in the peloton are Tinkoff, Los Pollos Hermanos, Grieg and Aker.
111 km to go and a group of 3 tries to get out of the pack: Meiler, De Witte and Kortsidakis. The chasing teams seem happy to let them go.
This move provokes a new set of attaks from the pack, with De Buyst, Resell, Okbamariam, Baugnies and Kolev. No more reaction behind them.
104 km to go. The 22 leaders are about to climb to Velletri (4,9 km, 6,1%). 8 rider are scattered between them and a 141 men peloton which is 2’22 behind.
As they reach the top of the hill, the break counts 29 members. Everyone could join, but Resell was dropped. The gap with the peloton is now less than 2’, with 98 km to go. The leaders will go downhill for a bit, and then there the cobblestones.
Baugnies is also fast dropped from the break. And now, cobbles time!
Sweeck and Centrone went on a late attack and have a 48’’ gap to catch on the break. The peloton is 1’ behind them.
Splits begin to appear in the pack. Most of the caught on riders are those who can’t cobble. With 64 km to go, the pack is still 108 men strong and is 1’50 late on the break.
As you can see, it’s quite stretched.
Sweck and Centrone were taken back by the pack.
Gallopin and Krigbaum were dropped from the break and gobbled up by the pack. With 54 km to go, the gap is 1’13. Great control by the favorite’s teams.
40 km to go, and the catch will soon be made. Only 53 men in the pack now.
As soon as it’s done, the attacks begin! Okbamariam is the first to go, Meiler tries to follow.
30 km to go and the German is leading with Kortsidakis. Pons was with them, but has been dropped and will be caught by a 77 men pack.
With 26 km to go, there is a strong attack by two favorites: Summerhill and Pedersen! Behind them we can see Stallaert, Vanbilsen and Zepuntke.
Zhupa has been caught on the wrong side of a split. Same goes for Sulimov.
In the pack, Senechal takes on chasing duties with Peng. Wisniowski and Kamyshev are behind them, ready to jump.
23 km to go. Pedersen is alone in front. He’s go a 15’’ gap on Senechal and Barthe who are chasing. Zhupa is alone, 37’’ behind the peloton.
Perdersen is caught on the 20 km line.
Oh now! Stallaert punctuered at the worst moment. Wisniowski and Altur attack at this exact moment.
Stallart’s group is 33’’ behind the favorites’group. This attack forced the decision, and we now have 6 men leading: Pedersen, Vanbilsen, Wisniowski, Debesay, Trentin. Zepuntke and Summerhill are 13’’ behind.
Tinkoff missed the coup! Kamyshev is 7’’ further back with Kasperkiewicz, while Senechal is in a 20 men group, 15’’ behind.
Zepuntke was very close to bridge the gap with the leaders, but ultimately he could not hold, so with 10 km to go, we still have our 6 leaders? Zepuntke will be caught by a group of 8 with the Tinkoff duo, Summerhill, Kasperkiewicz, Ringheim, Karatzios, Jansen and Smirnovs.
Stallaert’s group is 1’ behind the leaders, so that seems to be done for him.
7,5 km to go. Now there is a steep hill, and a false flat finish. Trentin is dropped from the leading group. Stallaert could join the chasing group, 48’’ behind the leaders.
Vanbilsen is also dropped in the hill. With 5 km to go, the leader again have a gap of 1’, with Pedersen doing most of the work.
Red kite! Also the end of the cobbles. The victory will play between the 4 remaining leaders, as the chasers all are 1’ away.
800 m and Pedersen launches the sprint. He’s by far the fastest of the 4.
600 m. He’s got a small gap. Only Wisniowski seems able to hold on for now.
Behind, Trentin is about to be caught by Vanbilsen and Ferreira. They have Marcos on their tail.
300 m. Pedersen still is the fastest of the 4. Wisniowski is fading.
100 m. No doubt about who will win this. Debesay is now the best placed to be 2nd.
Incredible victory for Pedersen! What a season! Debesay is 2nd, Altur 3rd and Wisniowski 4th.
Behind, Trentin is still alone under the red kite, but a big group is coming behind.
Ferreira wants this 5th place and he goes with 800 m to go.
Nobody can catch him! Good result for the Portuguese rider.
Behind, Stallaert is fast and the others around him seem done for. Even the Tinkoff riders can’t sprint.
Stallaert makes the most of his puncture with a 6th place. Who can say what he would have done without that incident? Trentin holds on to 7th, followed by Vanbilsen and Marcos.
Peng is 10th, Summerhill tried but can’t do better than 11th. Jansen, Zepuntke, Kasperkiewicz and Karatzios complete the top 15.
The Tinkoff duo can’t even hold on to a top 20. That will be a huge disappointment.
We’ll leave you to it, with the last riders arriving in the coming minutes. Soon, the full results.
