Welcome to the Faroe Islands for the 4th edition of the Torshavn GP. The riders face a bumpy 174k parcours today, but it should be a sprint finish.
Halvorsen will try to go back-to-back and become the first two-time winner. The organizers have him as one of the 3-star favorites.
As the riders leave the start/finish line near the harbor the first four attackers are Kamzong, Firdaus, Berhe, and Wade.
10k gone, the original 4 have been joined by Covi, Mudarra, and Lafay. Gradek 16 seconds behind and then another 36 behind is a group including McCambridge, Ballerstedt, Berthet, Ryan, Ahmad, Zubov, Wibisono, and Uhlig. Assa Abloy shut down some more attacks but it looks like they are OK with 16 riders out front.
150k gone, the front 16 are together and have a lead of 4’45. Three riders each here for Glanbia and Indosat. Bordeaux, Adidas, and Kraftwerk have 2 each.
100k to go, lead down to 3’05. Most of the work being done by Tryg (Iversen), Assa Abloy (Matsumoto), and Sony – Force India (Van Dijke) but Fastned (Hessman), Trans (Tulett), Lampre (Antonelli) and Zalgiris (Bereznyak) have also been represented at the front.
49k to go the break still together but their lead is down to 1’33, they have a short leash today. Same teams working. The peloton split briefly a few K ago but is back together.
With their lead under 1-minute Covi launches the first attack in the break, it goes nowhere but triggers a lot of counters. 22 riders have split off the front of the peloton under pressure from Assa Abloy. 33k to go.
22k to go after a series of attacks a 4-rider group gets a gap in the breakaway. They are Firdaus, Wade, Lafay, and Gradek. They have 19 seconds on the rest of the break who have 30 seconds on the peloton which is currently being led by Centrone. Peloton all together now but is has been splitting and reforming.
19k to go, only Gradek able to hang on ahead of the rest of the break. But all action has meant the break have kept their gap over the peloton except Ballerstedt who has been caught. So two big names decide it is time to go it alone: Dzamastagic and Katrasnik attack.
As he takes the bell Gradek has 9 seconds on his former companions who have been joined by the two attackers plus Houle, who bridged up to them. Rumac tried the same thing but failed. The peloton another 37 seconds behind with Selig and Konychev leading. 47 riders make up the peloton with all the big names present, some second-tier sprinters are in a 27-rider group trying to bridge back up. 14k to go.
10k to go, Katrasnik and Ahmad close down Gradek while the peloton closes to 25 seconds with Livyns doing the chasing, surprisingly large contribution from CT team Jewa Tirol today.
The catch is made and there is a brief lull at the front before Stallaert launches an attack. He is followed by Katrasnik, Yzeiraj, Rowe, and Houle.
Those 5 are joined by Lecourt de Billot. The latter immediately launches an attack and draws Rowe clear. Meanwhile some disorganization in the peloton has allowed the attackers to get a gap over 30 seconds. 6.5k to ride. They are in the midst of the final climb now.
Just under 4k. Rowe has dropped Lecourt de Billot. The other four have been caught by the peloton and Houle is now leading the chase.
1.4k to go for Rowe, he can see the masts in the harbor and the 1k banner.. He has 17 seconds on Lecourt de Billot and 50 seconds on the peloton where Gibbons, Vingerling, and Lavery are on the front. But none of them have much left.
500 meters for Rowe his gaps are holidng. It looks like Lampre’s one-two punch is going to pay off.
Rowe has plenty of time to celebrate winning the 2023 Torshavn GP.
Lecourt De Billot looks safe for second. A nice result for Trans although Lecourt De Billot wasn’t quite strong enough to make their one-two punch work. In the peloton Dainese launches from behind Gibbons. Behind him are Demare, Manninen, Vesely, Halvorsen and Haller. Then Aniolkowski, Krieger, and Silvestre.
500 meters and Dainese has a small gap.
200 meters, Dainese will complete the podium. Demare has a slight edge over Mannien and Vesely for 4th.
Demare 4th. Vesely just edges Manninen and Aniolkowski for 5th. Halvorsen only 8th this year.
Silvestre, Haller and Krieger complete the top 11.
Torshavn GP 
