Back to the PCT cobbles ! 207 km of flattish cobbles in Norway, and somme well known names on the favorites list.
There’s not much of a break in the first 10 km. Costiou and Sitchinava are at the front, but they only have 20 seconds on the peloton. Würth, Lierse and Specialized control the attacks, with their leaders already on the first positions.
3 cobbled sectors done, 12 (and 168 km) to go. A break of 12 has established a lead of 4 minutes on the peloton : Visser, Curley, Sitchinava, Riabushenko, Singh, Young, Jurado, Arissol, Costiou, Askey, Eriksson and Touze.
2 Ekoi and one UBS rider. That seem familiar on the PCT cobbles !
At half stage, Sitchinava is the first dropped from the break. He’ll nonetheless lap Holm Jorgensen, who’s already 18 minutes late.
The gap between the leaders and the peloton is around 3 minutes.
That’s a long range attack ! Zhupa goes at it with 80 km left. The break is 2 minutes ahead, and the peloton is down to 80 men.
Askey’s been dropped from the break too. Zhupa isn’t let go and is caught after 18 km of solo ride. There’s still a 2 minutes advantage for the 10 leaders, with 65 km and 5 sectors left.
ELCO wants to dynamite the race ! A strong pace from Edmondson pulls Summerhill clear. Kortsidakis tried but can’t follow.
The Australian sends his leader in the break. Behind, Manakov and David have attacked too.
A new break of 14 is formed and has 54 seconds on the 82 men peloton with 47 km and 3 sectors left. It comprises the remains of the first break, Edmonson, Summerhil, David and Manakov.
Vandenabeele brings the pack to the break ahead of the 13th sector. But ELCO continues the attacks !
And indeed, Summerhill, David and Touze have a 30 seconds advance at the end of the sector. The riders behind are lapped.
They’re all caught, and many attackes follow, thinning the peloton, but nobody can stay ahead.
Is it the decisive move ? Gamper, Daniel and Kasperkiewicz got 16 seconds with 18 km and one sector left !
Peng, Teggart and Nareklishvili work hard to make the catch, and you can see a counter-attack on the left by Jacobs, Stallaert and Owen.
Last sector ! Zepuntke has a small margin on Moulingui and Daniel. Then, 8 more seconds down there’s a group of favorites without Ovsyannikov, Insausti and Teggart.
The gaps are respectively 13 and 11 seconds at the end of the sector. Zepunkte has to hold on to get that victory !
5 km left. Zepunkte will probably get caught, thanks to Kortsidakis’ work : Summerhill still his in the group. But he’s no sprinter, so the strategy is questionable.
3 km and Zepunkte resists ! Kortsidakis gave up and nobody wants to work. 3 riders even joined the chase group : Boutopoulos, Stavrakakis and Ovsyannikov.
2 km. Kasperkiewicz accelerates, dropping Stallaert, Ovsyannikov, Owen and the 4 ELCO riders. The gap to Zepunkte still is 20 seconds though.
At the flamme rouge, Zepunkte stopped to work, feeling the sprint behind him. Maybe to keep forces ?
700 m. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Gamper storms out of Debesay’s slipstream.
But he quickly has to sit, and with 200 m left, Kasperkiewicz is taking the lead.
Kasperkiewicz wins the 2024 Lillestrom GPÂ ! Gamper is 2nd.
Debesay, Daniel, Jacobs make it 5.
Stallaert is 6th, then come Owen and Manamalage.
Zepunkte is 9th because of that last km !
Ovsyannikov beats Moulingui to 10th, and then come the 4 ELCO riders.
What an intense race ! Hope you liked it, see you soon for more cobbles !
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