Thomas solos away from Stybar to win E3 Harelbeke
By Cycling News
Cancellara, Van Avermaet among victims of falls
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) won E3 Harelbeke on Friday after attacking fellow leaders Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) with four kilometres to go and soloing across the line of the Belgian cobbled classic. Stybar held on for second, while Sagan faded in the end and was passed by the chasing peloton. Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quickstep) won the sprint for the final podium place.
The trio escaped from the field on the Oude Kwaremont with 41km left to race, and despite a concerted chase from BMC behind, they worked well together to stay clear. An attack was inevitable in the finale, but Thomas said he chose to go earlier than might have been expected to preempt the hostilities. The three-time world champion and dual Olympic gold medalist in the team pursuit couldn't have picked a better distance to suit his abilities.
“It was hard out there. The three of us worked well together and I wasn’t sure if they were bluffing a bit near the end – panting and pulling faces – but fortunately they weren’t, and it was great for me.
"I imagined I was following Ed Clancy's wheel," Thomas joked of his Olympic track teammate. "These six weeks from Paris-Nice and Paris-Roubaix were the big hit for me. Paris-Nice was really disappointing, I was close last week and to get the win now is really great."
How it unfolded
Due to road works in Harelbeke the start area moved out of the city centre to the Forestier football stadium outside the centre. The most notable name to miss out at the start was Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida), due to a fever and viral gastrointestinal problems. On the start podium Peter Sagan (Cannondale-Garmin) was awarded his weight in beer because of his win from last year.
Before hitting the first climbs six riders created a breakaway group. After 15 kilometres Sjoerd van Ginneken (Roompot Oranje), Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Dries Devenyns (IAM), Sébastien Turgot (AG2R), Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka) and Andrea Dal Col (Southeast) featured in front.
A massive crash was caused by an errant water bottle on the cobbles of the Haaghoek after 40km, taking down Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Garmin), and Robert Wagner (Lotto.NL-Jumbo) among many others. Although Lars Boom (Astana) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) were down but quickly got back on their bikes.
The gap started coming down as the peloton was increasing its speed over the climbs mid-way through the race. Dal Col was dropped from the lead group, leaving only five riders in front. At the Taaienberg, the eighth climb of the day, the gap was down to five minutes. Daniel Oss (BMC), Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Matti Breschel led the peloton over the cobbles and created a small gap. Tiejs Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) solely closed the gap to the three leaders but a few kilometres later Katusha brought the peloton back on the four leaders. The Taaienberg didn’t result in a selection up front but several riders were distanced for good, including Grand Tour specialist Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who then dropped out of the race.
During the next 30 kilometres the peloton rolled in grouped formation over the climbs. The gap from the five breakaway riders slowly dropped back from four minutes to two minutes. At the Kapelberg the gap came down to a minute with only Devenyns, De Bie and Sbaragli surviving in front. The speed in the peloton put a huge amount of riders in trouble while heading to the two important climbs Paterberg and the Oude Kwaremont.
In front Devenyns left his last companions behind. In the peloton Sep Vanmarcke (Lotto NL-Jumbo) flew up the cobbles at high speed but he slipped away and had to drop back a few spots behind Daniel Oss, Sylvain Chavanel (IAM) and Peter Sagan. Nine riders briefly distanced the rest of the peloton, featuring Vanmarcke, Oss, Sagan, Chavanel, Degenkolb, Stybar, Paolini, Vandenbergh and Van Avermaet. There was no co-operation and a group of about 30 riders approached the Oude Kwaremont with Devenyns leading by only half a minute.
Marcus Burghardt (BMC) led the peloton over the first part of the Oude Kwaremont. The big guns finally fired when Geraint Thomas took over from Burghardt with Stybar marking his wheel. Burghardt was unable to follow with Sagan and the rest of the peloton behind the German rider. Sagan waited until halfway up the Kwaremont- to overtake Burghardt and bridge up to Stybar and Thomas. Devenyns was caught by the three classics specialists and was dropped after missing the final corner just before exiting the cobbles.
A few seconds later Vanmarcke led the peloton over the cobbles but the trio was gone. On the wide roads to Ronse the trio worked well together and created a gap of 15 seconds on a group of about twenty riders that included Degenkolb, Kristoff, Breschel, Van Avermaet, Oss, Chavanel, Stannard, Boasson Hagen and Vanmarcke who had a shoe problem.
Once the gap was up to 25 seconds BMC worked hard to close the it, having four riders in the main group. The gap briefly dropped back to 15 seconds before going back up to 45 seconds at the foot of the final climb, the Tiegemberg. A few more riders were dropped front the main group due to the pace set by BMC on the Tiegemberg with Ian Stannard being the biggest victim. The gap was down to 25 seconds.
On the small roads over the Tiegemberg Greg Van Avermaet misjudged a corner and went over the handlebars, crashing hard on his back. Paolini took over from BMC but the gap was back up to fifty seconds due to the crash from Van Avermaet.
Sagan, Stybar and Thomas worked well together, but it was the Sky rider who broke the peace first, choosing to put in his attack with full gusto with 4km left to go, into the wind, surprising the other two. Stybar kept up a valiant chase but could not close down the gap, although he was able to hold off the sprinting peloton, which Sagan was unable to do.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | 5:15:00 |
2 | Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:00:25 |
3 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:00:38 |
4 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha | |
5 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
6 | Matti Breschel (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
7 | Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
8 | Jack Bauer (NZl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
9 | Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica GreenEdge | |
10 | Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
11 | Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team | |
12 | Björn Leukemans (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
13 | Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky | |
14 | Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
15 | Marco Marcato (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
16 | Yoann Offredo (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
17 | Vincent Jerome (Fra) Team Europcar | |
18 | Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
19 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka | |
20 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling | |
21 | Yves Lampaert (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
22 | Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team | |
23 | Oscar Gatto (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
24 | Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
25 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
26 | Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky | 0:00:46 |
27 | Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:00:47 |
28 | Alexander Kolobnev (Rus) Team Katusha | 0:00:57 |
29 | Zico Waeytens (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
30 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:01:14 |
31 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | 0:01:17 |
32 | Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:26 |
33 | Luca Paolini (Ita) Team Katusha | 0:02:14 |
34 | Michael Morkov (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo | 0:03:21 |
35 | Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar | |
36 | Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
37 | Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Team Roompot | |
38 | Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
39 | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar | |
40 | Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
41 | Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
42 | Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek Factory Racing | |
43 | Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
44 | Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Team Europcar | |
45 | Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN - Qhubeka | |
46 | Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale | |
47 | Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
48 | Hayden Roulston (NZl) Trek Factory Racing | |
49 | Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
50 | Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
51 | Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Team Europcar | |
52 | Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek Factory Racing | |
53 | Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
54 | Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
55 | Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team | |
56 | Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
57 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka | |
58 | Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
59 | Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar | |
60 | Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team | |
61 | Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
62 | Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek Factory Racing | |
63 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
64 | Tyler Farrar (USA) MTN - Qhubeka | |
65 | Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
66 | Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
67 | Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
68 | Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal | |
69 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
70 | Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
71 | Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
72 | Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
73 | Simone Antonini (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
74 | Mathew Hayman (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
75 | Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
76 | Johan Van Summeren (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | |
77 | Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky | |
78 | Wesley Kreder (Ned) Team Roompot | |
79 | Damien Gaudin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
80 | Gert Steegmans (Bel) Trek Factory Racing | |
81 | Jelle Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
82 | John Gadret (Fra) Movistar Team | |
83 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team | |
84 | Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling | |
85 | Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
86 | Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Sky | |
87 | Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Trek Factory Racing | 0:03:31 |
88 | Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 0:06:44 |
89 | Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | 0:11:33 |
90 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling | |
91 | Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
92 | Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) Team Katusha | |
93 | Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
94 | Marco Bandiera (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
95 | Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
96 | Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
97 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Team Katusha | 0:11:59 |
98 | Jesse Sergent (NZl) Trek Factory Racing | |
99 | Rafael Andriato (Bra) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
100 | Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
101 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) IAM Cycling | |
102 | Maxime Daniel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
103 | Youcef Reguigui (Alg) MTN - Qhubeka | |
104 | Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
105 | Aleksei Tsatevich (Rus) Team Katusha | |
106 | Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
107 | Stijn Steels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
108 | Raymond Kreder (Ned) Team Roompot | |
109 | Mauro Finetto (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
110 | Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Ned) Team Roompot | 0:13:00 |
111 | Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
112 | Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling | |
113 | Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise | |
114 | Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team | |
115 | Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
116 | Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky | |
117 | Ivar Slik (Ned) Team Roompot | |
118 | Edward King (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
119 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
120 | Kristoffer Skjerping (Nor) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
121 | Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
122 | Tony Hurel (Fra) Team Europcar | |
123 | Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale | |
124 | Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
125 | Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida | |
126 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
DNF | Alessio Taliani (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Alberto Nardin (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team | |
DNF | Tiziano Dall´Antonia (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Marco Benfatto (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Mirko Tedeschi (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Matt Brammeier (Irl) MTN - Qhubeka | |
DNF | Robert Wagner (Ger) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Michal Kolár (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo | |
DNF | Nick Dougall (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka | |
DNF | Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Rick Flens (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | |
DNF | Fabio Taborre (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | |
DNF | Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
DNF | Tim Kerkhof (Ned) Team Roompot | |
DNF | Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
DNF | Andrea Zordan (Ita) Bardiani CSF | |
DNF | Berden De Vries (Ned) Team Roompot | |
DNF | Vegard Breen (Nor) Lotto Soudal | |
DNF | Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
DNF | Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN - Qhubeka | |
DNF | Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky | |
DNF | Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar | |
DNF | Luka Pibernik (Slo) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Roger Kluge (Ger) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky | |
DNF | Adam Blythe (GBr) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Jens Mouris (Ned) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Leigh Howard (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team | |
DNF | William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
DNF | Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
DNF | Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
DNF | Reto Hollenstein (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert | |
DNF | Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica GreenEdge | |
DNF | Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Brian Van Goethem (Ned) Team Roompot | |
DNF | Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | |
DNF | David Boucher (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Marc Sarreau (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
DNF | Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing | |
DNF | Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Andrea Dal Col (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling | |
DNS | Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida |
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