Hello and welcome to IESN1. We are here in Cologne, Germany for the May's annual sprint classic - Rund um Köln. 204 km across one of Germany's industrial centers awaits the riders today. As mentioned in our preview show, Caleb Ewan is looking to become not only the first rider to win this race two times, but also to win it in back-to-back editions. However, his competition will be as stiff as ever and will do whatever it must to deny him this chance. But before we jump into the action, let's view what our panel has to say.
The panel pick the defending champion Ewan as the top choice for winning the race once again. But his chief challengers would be Gaviria and Kemboi with Lander, Aniolkowski, Pedersen, Grosu and Coquard also given great chance for top finish. But let's go straight to our commentary booth for the action in Cologne.
Well, it's a beautiful day here in Cologne and with no less than 200 km we have the first break with Croes, Vanthourenhout, Fernandes, Buttigieg and Matsangos leading the charge
Other riders such as Casillas and Gavars try to join the group.
The leading group has now formed from the following 4 riders - Buttigieg, Vanthourenhout, Matsangos and Gavars
Four more riders had managed to break from the peloton - Hocevar, Krasts, Donovan and Jull-Jensen. They are soon expected to join the leading quartet.
The two groups have now merged with more than 4 minutes ahead.
Evonik is the only team in the break with 2 riders - what is the team's agenda in this race though?
The gap now hovers around the 4 minute mark
The break is now at the Dimberg climb with the gap now down to 3'15"
As the break climbs Hohkeppel, the gap is now down to less than 3 minutes
As the peloton reaches Bessenberg, the gap is now around the 2'30" mark
And the pelotoh had started to dwindle down
At the Lüghausen climb the 8-man break has 2 minute gap
And the peloton is now breaking apart once again, but eventually the smaller groups combine once again.
The break is now less than 2 minutes ahead of the next group as the peloton has once again dwindled down - to 105 riders. The tempo seems to exhaust some riders today and can't keep up with it.
And Krasts is the first rider from the break to fall behind.
The now 7-man break has less than a minute and a half in front of the peloton, which has returned back to 170+ riders with Krasts already brought back.
With 20 km to go the break's lead has dwindled down to just 45". It will most likely end in a mass sprint unsless a surprise attack is unleashed
Some riders have decided to take their chance now with a surprise attack. This group includes Varga, Culey, Katrasnik, Pedersen (one of the panel's picks), Rutsch and the reigning World Champion Wisniowski. But pretty sure the peloton will fight back.
And with 15 km to go the two groups have been caught by the peloton.
But soon enough Katrasnik and Pedersen try again. Rutsch, Wisniowski and Culey as well as Cosneroy try to follow them. The peloton won't turn blind eye again, that's for sure.
So far only the rainbow jersey holder had managed to join as the gap ahead is fragile.
Katrasnik and Wisniowski are on the move with 5km to go. Can we see a breakaway be successful?
Gaviria is not going to stand here and do nothing as he is launching an attack...
...just as the leading duo is preparing for a final duel
And Lukas Wisniowski - the defending world champion, won the duel over Gasper Katrasnik.
Amaysim's Culey defeated Pedersen and Gaviria for the final spot on the podium. The Top 10 is filled by Cosnefroy, Rutsch, Kanter, Grosu and Coquard. Caleb Ewan finished all the way back in 19th
And here's our winner of the day - Lukas Wisniowski. He wasn't one of the top favorites, but his gamble to attack in the final few kilometers had paid off.
And that's it from us. See you again soon - goodbye.
Rund um Köln
