Welcome in Philadelphia ! Some of the best sprinters of the worlds are here in the United States, instead of racing the Tour de France.
The bookies have some interesting views on the favorites, with former winner Kennaugh high up with the world champion Gaviria, and the German champion Degenkolb ahead of his teammate Ewan. Let’s hope for ISA that they won’t have any leadership problem!
Well, we’ll sea at the end. Let’s ride!
As 10 km are done, the riders already cross the finish line for the first time. Attacks are still coming, but we already have two groups at the front of the race:
– Debesay, Finkler, Elosegui, Chaiyasombat and Yudha;
– Covi, Verhelst, Potocki, Cheung, Onodera Rubio, Gall and Forcellini.
The front group already has a 1’39 gap on the peloton, led by Aegon, Amaysim, ISA, Strava, HelloFresh, Popo4Ever and Isostar.
Indosaat and Lierse both have 3 riders in the break, Voyagin has 2.
And the break is finally formed with 172 km to go. 15 riders have a 2’50 gap. Otruba and Novikov joined the leading group.
The race is quite calm, and the peloton doesn’t want to let the frontmen have too much time. Though the gap went up to 3’30, it already went down to 2’45 with 125 km to go. Jurado and Heidemann joined the chase.
75 more kilometers, and nothing changed, except the gap, which is down to 1’13. Some sprinters ( Gaviria, Ahlstrand, Groenewegen) and rouleurs ( Dzamastagic, Varga) are near the front.
ISA seems to have make his decision, as Ewan is protected (by Santos) and Degenkolb isn’t.
33 km to go, and after several unsuccessful attacks in the break, Chaiyasombat managed to get away. The peloton is 55 seconds behind the rest of the group.
He can last for 10 km, and then it’s Potocki who goes try his luck. 30 seconds behind, the pack is mostly complete, except for Yamamoto.
All the break is caught. All of it? No! Three men are still resisting the peloton: Potocki, Yudha and Onodera still have a 30 seconds lead.
ISA, Isostar and Popo4Ever are working hard to bring them back.
And finally, right after the 20 km banner, the first attacks begin in the peloton! HelloFresh set up Dzamastagic for an attack, and he easily overcomes the three last escapists.
The peloton was quite surprised, and Varga thinks it’s indeed a good idea to try to join the Slovenian.
Mraouni and Cherkasov are a bit alone to chase for now…
We’ve entered the 15 last kilometers. ISA is strong at the head of the peloton. They’ve caught Varga, and Dzamastagic is only 16 seconds ahead.
More important, there is a split in the peloton. Howard, Silvestre, Liu, Bonifazio, Bouhanni, Jakobsen… are on the wrong side of the split. They should come back soon enough, but it might be worrying for their teams to see them here so close to the end.
Dzamastagic is caught with 10 km to go, after a great work from Baska.
Most of the previously named riders are not at the front yet.
7,5 km to go. ISA already has its train, but other teams don’t want to let them organize and Varga launches another one!
He’s got a 16 seconds lead under the 5 km banner. The peloton is led by Van den Berg and Dlamini.
Not sure what Brockhoff is doing here, as Philipsen is on the wrong side of the split, nearly one minute behind.
ISA is strong today, and Varga is caught. All is not lost for Popo4Ever though, as Lutsyshyn is here. The main sprinters missing are Philipsen and Bewley.
2 km to go. Contreras releases Degenkolb. That might be too early…
Everyone is following ISA’s train: behind the German champion, we have Ewan, Gaviria, Grosu, Demare, Ahlstrand, Coutinho, Bonifazio, Vesely, Bouhanni, Silvestre, Kennaugh and Howard.
Some of them seem a bit far from the front…
Degenkolb releases Ewan with 900 meters to sprint. Lutsyshyn is probably out of it. Groenewegen already is sprinting, and he seems strong, but 200 meters behind Degenkolb.
500 meters. Ewan and Gaviria lead the sprint, but they’re not that fast.
Vesely, Bouhanni and Silvestre are the fastest for now.
200 m. It’s already finished for Ewan and Grosu. Gaviria might hold on. Haller and Groenewegen are the fastest, but the latter still is 200 m behind.
100 meters. That’ll be a hard one to judge.
And it’s an incredible victory for Silvestre!
He timed his sprint perfectly to pass all the favorites.
Vesely is 2nd, not far at all.
Demare pips Alstrand for 3rd. Gaviria is 5th.
Coutinho has a biggest advantage on Bouhanni, who couldn’t pass Vesely.
Then we have Haller (8th), Howard (9th) and Kennaugh (10th).
Bonifazio, Groenewegen, Ewan and Grosu are the last on on the sprint, while Dzamastagic rounds off the top 15.
Well, though the race was very flat-race like, the finish really was interesting! ISA were not awarded for their work to catch the attacks, and Aegon might be disappointed with Groenewegen bad positionning, as he seemed the strongest today.
I hope you enjoyed the race, I’ll see you soon.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
