Welcome to Denmark! Except for the first quarter of the race today is all about cobbles. A group of twelve quickly joins forces and forms the breakaway. The twelve riders up front are Eiriksson, Consonni, Singh, Weinstein, Berger, Lunder, Klahan, Campenaerts, Minali, Huera, Mudgway and Arrieta. Teams working in the peloton are SEE Turtles, Trans, Euskadi and Duvel.
The maximum gap to the peloton is 4’30”, once the peloton hits the first cobbled sector with 128 km to go this has been reduced to 2’30”. The peloton gets reduced from 99 to 77 riders after the first few cobbled km’s already, it’s going to be a long day for Zahiri and company. Revelo won’t win this race like he did in Nakhon Ratchasima, but that’s definitely not something anybody would have expected today. Among the better cobblers, Nareklishvili is unlucky with a puncture, but it seems like he’s back in business soon enough.
What’s up with the Würth – MODYF bikes today? Campenaerts with a puncture as well with exactly 100 km to the finish line. A peloton of now 90 riders at three minutes, keeping the gap more or less constant for now. Still the same teams working there, as the longest cobbled sectors are now over. But no worries, there’s still around 15 cobbled sectors to go, and it’s not like they are short. Van Lerberghe in the peloton with a puncture as well now, but also seems to be no problem to stay in the peloton for him.
Long range attack! 80 km to the finish line as the Genii duo of Okbamariam, Batmunkh, Hofstetter and Dewulf try their luck!
Havik, Erdenesuren, Bremanis and Blythe also try to close the gap toward the leaders with an attack as there are 65 km to go, but so far SEE Turtles and Trans keep the guys trying to reach the early breakaway on a rather tight leash! Live images also available as of now!
Klahan was the longest survivor, but he gets caught with 30 km left. As there are 21 km left, we have a group of 24 favourites left at the front of the race, and with 4 cobbled sectors to go. Van Lerberghe and Roosen tried some attacks to break free, but the Duvel riders couldn’t get away from this group. The 24 riders up front are Gougeard (Euskotren), Riabushenko (Babymetal), Evangelos (Genii), Rowe (Genii), Van Moer (Gjensidige), Saber (Zain), Zhupa (Genii), Goossens (Würth), Nareklishvili (Würth), Ringheim (Euskadi), Domene (Euskadi), Wevelgem winner David (Glanbia), Darbinyan (Euskotren), Orue (Turtles), Muhindo (Turtles), Moulingui (Trans), Centrone (Trans), Noppe (Duvel), Richardson (Turtles), Kolev (Trans), Roosen (Duvel), Hvideberg (Gjensidige), Heinrich (Würth) and Van Lerberghe (Duvel).
10.5 km left and we’re at the end of the penultimate cobbled sector as eight riders now have a nice gap over the others! The eight that broke free are Ringheim, Darbinyan, Moulingui, Hvideberg, Orue, Van Lerberghe, Nareklishvili and David! Among the five riders behind are Zhupa, Roosen, Saber and Van Moer.
The five riders behind come back to the first group of eight as we enter the final cobbled sector, which is quite long (2,5km). Moulingui smells glory and attacks! He has a 30” gap with 6 km to go, will it hold?!
The Trans leader is off the cobbles with 3.5 km left and he has a 30” gap still, eight riders behind him now! Those are Ringheim, David, Zhupa, Van Lerberghe, Nareklishvili, Darbinyan, Hvideberg and Orue!
Still thirty seconds under the red kite!
400 metres to go and Darbinyan comes very close to overtaking the Trans rider with a mighty sprint! The Armenian sits down as well now, who will take this one home?!
Moulingui holds on! The Gabonese champion is now also the Herning champion! Just like in Gent-Wevelgem a strong result for Darbinyan nonetheless, he finishes second today!
And we see a third national champion on the podium, as Norwegian champion Ringheim finishes third for Euskadi – Murias. Nice result for the Basque teams! Van Lerberghe is fourth ahead of Nareklishvili in fifth.
David then in sixth with another good race for Glanbia this week, ahead of Hvideberg (7th), Orue (8th) and Zhupa (9th).
Saber rounds out the top-10 ahead of Roosen in eleventh.
