200 km in Wallonie are on the menu today. Zepuntke is the favorite, and even the best sprinters of the best cobblers.
A break is quickly formed, with Hecht, Firdaus, Lau, Teutenberg, Aquilani, Van Sintmaartensdijk, Forbes, Van Dijke, Russo and Sitchinava.
De Pooter tries to join them, while 1 minute further down the road, Varotsos attacks.
Würth, Bralirwa and UBS take the control of the peloton.
De Pooter stays in between for a long time and is finally brought back in a small set of hills, after 40 km of solo ride. 5 minutes between peloton and the break.
The gap is down to 2’07 as the break enters the first paved sector and the final circuit. 100 km to go. Lierse, UBS and Würth are at the head of the peloton.
Owen punctured, but he was well positioned in the peloton… Which loses men quickly!
No catch yet, but some riders try to break free, like Merlier, Sanogo and Kulppi. They get a small gap. Still 83 km to go though.
It’s a hard time for the peloton: Lierse lost their main worker, Benedetti, to a puncture, so the chase is a bit disorganized. The other teams profit to attack: now it’s Boutopoulos, De Witte, De Buyst and Louvel. The original break still is 2’22 ahead!
Boutopoulos, De Witte, Merlier, Kulppi and Sanogo join the first break, and tghes 15 are now quite dangerous. Louvel is alone, nearly 1’ behind, some 20 seconds ahead of De Buyst.
Ghani, Breen and Vanbilsen got clear of the peloton, in which less and less teams will want to work.
50 km and 2 circuits left. The 15 leaders have 1’10 on a more dangerous group of 10: Campbell, Rossi, Ghani, La Grenade, Louvel, Kasperkiewicz, De Buyst, Vanbilsen, Breen and Kaislavuo.
A 155 men peloton trails by 37 seconds, but seems to be lacking the will to chase, or good enough domestiques.
Some kilometer later, Zepuntke is trying to join this group (minus La Grenade), with Kumara on his wheel. Chatarunga attacks in the back. Lierse, UBS and Bralirwa are the only one left concerned by the chase.
Zepuntke indeed leads Kumara to the chase group, and the Specialized rider immediately takes the lead.
30 km and 1 circuit left. Russo, Hecht and Teutenberg attacked and have 8 seconds on the rest of the break.
In the chase/favorites group, Kaislavuo, van Blsen and Zepuntke accelerate. They are 40 seconds behind the leaders.
Chatarunga is back in a peloton 1’52 behind. Kuroeda is the main name missing.
20 km left, and maybe this is the winning move by Kasperkiewicz! He attacked strongly to join the 15 leaders, while van Bilsen, Breen, Zepuntke and Kaislavuo are 32 seconds behind.
All the other attackers are back in a peloton of 36, still without Kuroeda.
Big work from Suter and Verwilst brings everyone together.
Kasperkiewicz doesn’t like it, and attacks immediately. 17 km still to ride.
He’s brought back, but now it’s Stallaert who has a few seconds. Ovsyannikov isn’t far, then we have Kasperkiewicz and, coming back from nowhere, Kuroeda.
10 km, only 1 cobbled sector to go. Stallaert and Ovsyannikov have 30 seconds on Jacobs and Debesay, storming out of the pack.
6 km left in this crazy race. Debesay leads a group of 5. With him are Ovsyannikov, Daniel, Owen, Stallaert, Manamalage, Kuroeda, Jacobs and Summerhill.
Specialized leads a big peloton, 24 seconds behind.
And it’s quite a big group which enters the last cobbled sector.
1,6 km, it’ll indeed be a sprint within this group. Harrison (though well at the back), Stallaert and Ovsyannikov are the best sprinters, but beware the wind and the small incline.
The last two and Kuroeda open under the kyte?
600 m. They went too soon. Daniel is now storming from behind.
He wins it! Beautiful sprint by the Frenchman.
Kortsidakis in a nice 2nd, ahead of Kuroeda, who was dropped for a time, Gamper and Debesay.
Not a well timed sprint for Stallaert, who maybe didn’t recognized the route enough. Still, 6th isn’t bad in this field.
Great ride for Manamalage in 7th, ahead of Stavrakakis and Lampaert.
Summerhill gives ELCO a 3rd rider in the top 10.
Specialized (13th and 15th) and Würth (26th) will have regrets today. Maybe they didn’t work together enough.
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