Slovakian champion takes sprint ahead of much-reduced peloton after an attritional day in the Flemish Ardennes
Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the first stage of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde between Middelkerke and Oudenaarde, in a tight sprint over former teammate Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana). The Slovakian champion, led out by teammate Fabio Sabatini, just managed to edge past the Italian, who won the final road stage of last year’s race, just as they hit the line; crossing no more than the width of his deep-section carbon rim ahead.
The final sprint, at the end of the tough 201.6km stage, was at the head of a much-reduced peloton as the hills of the Flemish Ardennes - well known to most riders from the ronde van Vlaanderen - took their toll. Numerous attacks were launched in the closing kilometres, but none was successful and the Liquigas-Cannondale and Astana teams managed to control things to the end.
“We deserved it because we rode the race as a great team,” said Sagan. “Among my victories, however, today was the least sought after. Our lead out was for "Saba"; I should only intervene if he had any difficulty.
“Guarnieri did a good, long sprint,” he explained. “I followed Fabio until I realised that unfortunately he would not be able to take it. I won, but the award goes to all of my teammates who were involved in a great race.”
The main attack of the day came from Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), Steven Van Vooren (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Reiner Honig (Landbouwkrediet) and Ronan van Zandbeek (Project 1t4i); a far more dangerous move came from Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale, with Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Nissan), Sebastian Langeveld (GreenEDGE), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Guarnieri inside the final 40km.
With the five-man break neutralised with just 12km to go, Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana) launched a solo move that was only neutralised by the shrinking peloton with three kilometres to go. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) launched the last of many attacks as the race entered the town of Oudenaarde, but it was controlled by Sagan and Guarnieri’s teams, and they were able to contest the sprint between them.
Time bonuses on the line gave Sagan the first leader’s jersey of the race, four seconds ahead of Guarnieri.
A fast start on a sunny day in Flanders
After heading south and east from Middelkerke on the North Sea coast, the route was to pass over the Oudenaarde finish line, before taking in two laps of a 57.5km finishing circuit around the Flemish Ardennes. Although the stage was to share its finishing town with Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, the line itself was in a completely different spot; in the main Markt, where the Ronde was to finish on the Minderbroederstraat on the outskirts of town.
The opening, flat 86.6km leg was covered with the peloton all together; Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale) took the opening sprint, after 26,9km, ahead of Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Stefan Van Dijk (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas), but - with 49.6km covered in the first hour - nobody was able to escape the peloton before the race reached the finishing circuit.
A group of ten riders briefly got clear at the start of the first lap, before Van der Sande, Van Vooren and Honig got away on the Edelareberg, with Van Vooren leading them over the second intermediate sprint. Van Zandbeek quickly bridged across with William Clarke (Champion System), and the five riders managed to build a lead of 2’10” by the time they reached the Valkenberg after 109.1km.
Clarke was struggling to keep up on the hills however, and was dropped on the Kruisberg with 72km to go, just as Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Boy van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare) tried to make their way across. The two chasers were caught on the Kortekeer with 65km to go though, with the gap to the leaders down to 40 seconds..
The peloton allowed it to grow a little once more, and was up to 1’09” as the four crossed the line to start the 58km finishing circuit
Andy Cappelle (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas) managed to bridge across just after the Edelareberg, making five up front once again. As the favourites’ teams began to move forward though, the speed in the peloton went up and the quintet’s lead began to tumble. Gaudin was quickly picked up on the cobbles - as André Greipel punctured, and Van Vooren and Honig were also swept up as they struggled on the uneven surface.
As the cobbles ended, and the three remaining leaders hit the foot of the Leberg, they were just ten seconds of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step-led peloton ahead and splitting up as Cappelle was dropped.
Sylvain Chavanel decides to mix things up but Liquigas-Cannondale and Astana are already dominating
Chavanel accelerated, with Langeveld in his wheel, quickly picking up the Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas rider, and pulled a small group away from the peloton. With Chavanel and Langeveld were Assan Bazayev, Dmitriy Muravyev and Simone Ponzi (all Astana), Sabatini and Oss (both Liquigas-Cannondale), Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Belisol), and Leif Hoste (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas).
Oss attacked the break and was clear over the top as the peloton was gaining on his former companions; the Italian was 12 seconds clear as the race came together behind him with 39km to go.
The Italian was chased and joined by Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Nissan), Langeveld, Guarnieri and Westra on the Valkenberg, with the Omega Pharma-Quick Step-led peloton was now 17 seconds behind.
The peloton was down to no more than fifty riders by now, and splitting into groups as chasing riders detached themselves and were caught again. Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was leading the chase, but the former Dutch champion was the only member of the Belgian team at the front, and the gap to the leaders was widening.
With 30km to go, it had risen to 23 seconds, and was continuing to grow as he five riders were still co-operating well.
Dries Devenyns finally made his way forward to help his teammate Terpstra, who had been vainly trying to persuade Astana and Liquigas-Cannondale riders to work. Between them the two Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders began to get the peloton’s pace up and, with 25km to go, as the race approached the town of Ronse, they had cut the deficit to 20 seconds.
Chavanel himself came forward as the gap dropped to 17 seconds, but the Frenchman found himself marked by a crowd of Liquigas-Cannondale riders who were protecting Oss ahead.
Terpstra attacked with 21km to go, but he too found himself marked by Liquigas-Cannondale. More riders attacked to join them however, including Svein Tuft (GreenEDGE), and Chavanel, and a larger group was beginning to form.
One final attack but the sprinters are not going to let this go
As the five leaders hit the Kruisberg with 16km to go, they were just 13 seconds ahead of the chasing group, which was dangling just clear of the peloton. Chavanel was driving the chase once more, with Basayev and Muravyev on his wheel for Astana; Sagan was also there again as they crested the top, but the peloton was reforming behind them.
Terpstra took over once more, with the break just 12 seconds clear; Astana riders were still blocking his progress though, along with Sagan and Tuft, so Chavanel attacked again to try to get things going. Although the French champion was still thoroughly marked again, it seemed to be doing the trick and the gap was closing; the front part of the peloton was also detaching from the rest as the rolling, winding Flemish roads began to cause splits.
With 12km to go the much-reduced peloton finally made contact with the leaders, but Muravyev attacked almost immediately, as the Kortekeer approached. The Kazakh was 17 seconds clear as he hit the base of the climb, as he was chased by Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM).
The two-time Ronde van Vlaanderen winner was almost upon the Astana rider as he crested the top of the climb with 8km to go; he in turn was pursued by Sagan, Ponzi and Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) as he descended the main road back towards Oudenaarde.
The four chasers were joined by Vincent Jérôme (Europcar), Hoste, Westra and Terpstra; GreenEDGE was now leading the peloton in pursuit, with Chavanel having switched roles to become the blocker this time.
With 5km to go, as the roads began to flatten, the race was all coming back together again behind the lone Muravyev. The Kazakh was still six seconds clear as he made his way up to the bridge across the Schelde; he repeatedly slowed and looked over his shoulder, as if he thought he was about to be caught, before continuing. With three kilometres to go though, Chavanel - chasing again with most of Astana on his wheel - pulled Muravyev back, and the Liquigas-Cannondale team took over.
Chavanel tried to get away with two kilometres to go, just as the course turned into the town, but the French champion was going nowhere. Astana and Liquigas-Cannondale had control once again into the final kilometre; Guarnieri launched his sprint early - disrupted slightly by the speed bump in the finishing straight - but Sagan edged past him just as the two of them hit the line.