Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) finally got the elusive monument victory that he has been desperately chasing for five years when he rode to an impressive solo win in the 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders. Having attacked with Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) and Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) with 30km to go, he dropped his companions on the final climbs of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg and then held off a furious chase from Fabian Cancellara (Trek) and Vanmarcke to take the victory. Cancellara beat Vanmarcke in the sprint while Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was the best of the rest.

 

Ever since he emerged on the scene in 2010, Peter Sagan has been destined for greatness in the classics. Powerful on the flats, strong in the sprint and with explosiveness on the climbs, he has all the skills to do well in the biggest one-day races.

 

However, the win always seemed to elude him. He was frustratingly close at the 2012 Milan-Sanremo and had to settle for second in the 2013 Tour of Flanders and always seemed to lack something at the end of the very long races. Things didn’t get any better in 2014 and 2015 when he had disastrous classics campaigns and seemed to have lost the edge that he had had a few years earlier.

 

Something changed in May last year. At the Tour of California, he was suddenly back at his best level and since then he has been in the mix in almost every race he has contested. He have had to settle for numerous second places but no one has doubted that he is back at his best level.

 

The final confirmation came when he won last year’s Gent-Wevelgem and that made him one of two top favourites for the 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders. Everybody was looking forward to the big duel between the world champion and Fabian Cancellara in his final De Ronde and the fans got just what they had been asking for.

 

Unlike in 2013 when the pair had last been up against each other, things came together for Sagan as he completed a near-perfect race by riding to a storming solo win in Oudenaard. The Slovakian did everything right by anticipating Cancellara and proved that he was the strongest rider by keeping the strong time triallist at bay during the flat run-in to the finish.

 

As usual, the finale really started at the second passage of the Oude Kwaremont with 55km to go. At this point, Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Dimitri Claeys (Wanty), Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen), André Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Hugo Houle (Ag2r), Nils Politt (Katusha) and Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) were 2 minutes ahead of a very big peloton. The selection started immediately as Houle fell off the pace immediately and Claeys surged clear. In the peloton, it was Marcel Sieberg setting a slow pace for Lotto Soudal on the lower slopes until Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) made the first attack. He was joined by Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale) and they crested the summit with a solid advantage.

 

Claeys was brought back after the climb and the front group still held an advantage of 2 minutes as they reached the top. Here the attacking continued in the peloton, with Frederik Backaert (Wanty), Luke Rowe (Sky), Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Andrey Amador (Movistar) making an unsuccessful move.

 

Ian Stannard (Sky) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek) led the peloton up the Paterberg where lots of riders got dropped. At the top, they were down to around 40 riders and were 30 seconds behind Vandenbergh and Van Baarle and 1.35 behind the leaders.

 

Greipel attacked from the front group as they approached the Koppenberg and he hit the famous climb as the lone leader. The breakaway splintered on the steep slopes and it was Claeys who had joined Greipel at the top. Politt and Erviti made contact just after the summit and it was a quartet that had gathered in the front.

 

Ian Stannard (Sky), Sebastien Minard (Ag2r), Pieter Weening (Roompot), Maarten Wynants (LottoNL-Jumbo), Zico Waeytens (Giant-Alpecin), Sieberg, Jasper Stuyven (Trek) and Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie) had anticipated the favourites by attacking before the climb and it was Stannard who surged clear from that group on the climb. Wynants nearly joined him at the top but the rest of the group were passed by the favourites who started to play with their muscles.

 

It was Lars Boom (Astana) who did the damage and only Cancellara and his Trek teammate Stijn Devolder could match the pace. Sagan realized the danger and bridged across before they crested the summit. Boom briefly seemed to get clear but Cancellara made sure that the quartet was together at the top.

 

A regrouping took place as 25-30 riders gathered and as usual many riders tried to use the next flat section to escape. No one had any luck though and it was a compact group that hit the Steenbeekdries.

 

Further up the road, Vandenbergh and Van Baarle had picked up Van Hoecke and Gruzdev and they managed to catch the leaders before they hit the climb. Stannard was the only rider in between but he found himself with 40 seconds to make up.

 

In the peloton, Laurens De Vreese (Astana) attacked hard and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal), Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Marco Marcato (Wanty) joined him. However, it was Roelandts who surged clear in a solo move while the rest of the group was brought back and the Belgian immediately got a big gap.

 

Gruzdev was dropped before the Taaienberg and was quickly passed by Stannard who was getting closer to the front. Meanwhile, Sep Vanmarcke launched a surprise attack from the peloton and alongside Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep); Devolder, Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEDGE), Oscar Gatto (Tinkoff) and De Vreese, he hit the climb with a small advantage.

 

Vanmarcke went full gas on the climb and immediately passed the fading Roelandts. The rest of the group regained contact with the Belgian near the top but further back, it was time for Sagan and Cancellara to play with the muscles. With Thomas on their wheel, they caught the Vanmarcke group at the top and immediately asked Gatto and Devolder to up the pace.

 

Boom, Luke Rowe, Michal Kiwatkowski (Sky), Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep) were the first to regain contact and they quickly caught Stannard, Politt, Van Hoecke and Gruzdev who were all in between. Moments later, a big group with Alexander Kristoff, Michael Mørkøv, Tom Boonen, Jempy Drucker, Daniel Oss, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Damien Gaudin, Alexey Lutsenko, Jakob Fuglsang, Oliver Naesen, Zico Waeytens, Marco Marcato and Scott Thwaites also regained contact and it was a relatively big group that had gathered 1.05 behind Erviti, Claeys, Vandenbergh, Greipel and Van Baarle with 32km to go.

 

That’s when Kwiatkowski and Sagan made an unexpected move and as Devolder exploded in his attempt to close the gap, they surged clear. Vanmarcke realized the danger and swiftly bridged across but Trentin and Oss failed in their attempt to do the same. Trentin tried again but it was impossible to get back to the trio which was already 20 seconds ahead with 30km to go.

 

Cancellara asked Devolder to chase and he kept the gap relatively stable at 25 seconds as they hit the Kruisberg. Here Greipel was briefly dropped from the front group but he made it back before the top.

 

As Devolder started to fade, De Vreese took over the pace-setting but as they reached the top, the peloton was 35 seconds behind. The chase got more organized, however, as De Vreese, Politt and Devolder started to trade pulls.

 

With 23km to go, Sagan, Vanmarcke and Kwiatkowski caught the leaders at a point where the gap had gone out to 40 seconds but now the balance tipped. At the bottom of the Kwaremont, Mørkøv had taken over the pace-setting and the gap had been reduced to 30 seconds.

 

Sagan set the pace on the Kwaremont and after Greipel had been the first tp get distancd, only Vanmarcke and Claeys could keep up. The latter also got distanced and it was a front duo that was formed.

 

As expected, Cancellara went full gas from the bottom and initially only Thomas could hang on. The Welshman also had to surrender and the Swiss passed everybody until he reached the top as a lone chaser.

 

Terpstra, Thomas, Vandenbergh, Erviti and Claeys gathered further back, and with Vandenbergh sacrificing himself for Terpstra, they caught Cancellara with 15km to go. Van Baarle, Thomas, Kwiatkowski and Boom were chasing 30 seconds back while the Cancellara group was 12 seconds behind the front duo as they hit the Paterberg.

 

Sagan set the pace on the lower slopes and only briefly allowed Vanmarcke to take a pull before he made his attack. Vanmarcke cracked and nearly came to a standstill while Cancellara rode away from everyone further back.

 

Cancellara caught Vanmarcke at the top where he still had 15 seconds to make up on Sagan. Erviti and Terpstra were next, followed by Stybar, Thomas, Claeys, Vandenbergh, Boom and Van Baarle.

 

Vanmarcke had to recover on Cancellara’s wheel and the Swiss quickly brought the gap down to 10 seconds. Just as it looked like they would get back, the trend changed and with 20km to go, the gap had gone out to 20 seconds. Kristoff, Rowe, Terpstra, Van Baarle, Claeys, Boom, Stybar, Vandenbergh, Thomas and Boom gathered in a group that was 35 seconds behind. Oss, Boonen and Lutsenko formed the next group.

 

From there it was a dramatic pursuit. The gap constantly hovered around 15 seconds and when Vanmarcke started to contribute it briefly dropped to 12 seconds with 5km to go. However, Sagan had an extra gear and with 3km to go, he had pushed it out to 25 seconds. At that point, it was clear that it was a win for the world champion and he had plenty of time to celebrate the first monument victory of his impressive career. Vanmarcke didn’t even contest the sprint for second and it was Kristoff who easily won the sprint for fourth.

 

With the Tour of Flanders done and dusted, the attention turns to Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs and Sunday’s final cobbled monument, Paris-Roubaix. The next WorldTour race is the Vuelta al Pais Vasco which starts tomorrow.

 

A classic course

The 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders was held on a classic 255.9km course that brought the riders from Brugge to Oudenaarde. After 100 relatively flat kilometres, the hostilities started when the riders hit the Oude Kwaremont after 103km of racing. From there, there was a total of 18 hellingen and seven pave sectors on the menu. The finale was expected to start with 55km to go when Kwaremont, Paterberg, Koppenberg, Steenbeekdries and Taaienberg came in quick succession and then there was just the Kruisberg to tackle before the riders faced Kwaremont and Paterberg again. The final 13km consisted of a flat run to Oudenaarde.

 

 

It was a fantastic spring day when the riders gathered for the start in Brugge. Only Andrea Fedi (Southeast), who is suffering from knee problems, was absent when the riders gathered in Brugge where an enormous crowd sent them off for one of the most important races of the year.

 

A brutal start

The first attack was launched by Tim Declercq (Topsport) but during the hectic initial phase, it was impossible to escape. It briefly looked promising for first Preben Van Hecke (Topsport) and a Bora rider and later for a 5-rider group that was chased by Dayer Quintana (Movistar), but things were back together at the 7km mark.

 

CCC, Topsport, Movistar and Ag2r were among the most active, and the many attacks created a trio that grew to an octet with riders like Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC) and Romain Cardis (Direct Energie). The former attacked solo and was joined by Peiter Weening (Roompot), but the attack was unsuccessful.

 

Quintana goes down

Quintana crashed just as Jonas Rickaert (Topsport) tried a solo move, but he was soon back in the fold. After 30km of racing, no one had gone clear and the attacks continued to fly. At the same time, there were mechanicals for a series of riders, including Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Oscar Gatto (Tinkoff), Lars Boom (Astana) and Luka Pibernik (Lampre-Merida).

 

46.6km were covered during a very fast first hour in the headwind and no one had managed to escape yet. While 15 riders found themselves behind the peloton, Gatis Smukulis (Astana), Roy Curvers (Giant-Alpecin), Kenny Dehaes (Wanty), Shane Archbold (Bora-Argon 18), Jesper Asselman (Roompot) and Enrique Sanz (Southeast) opened an 8-second advantage but that move was also unsuccessful.

 

Six riders get clear

After 75km of attacking, the break was finally formed when Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Argon 18) took off. Hugo Houle (Ag2r), Federico Zurlo (Lampre-Merida), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Wesley Kreder (Roompot) joined him and as the peloton slowed down, they quickly pushed their advantage out to 1.08.

 

Dehaes tried to bridge the gap and was joined by Curvers. The pair had a hard time though and was stuck one minute behind the leaders. After the gap had gone out to 1.30, the peloton suddenly accelerated again and quickly brought the two chasers back and reduced the gap to less than a minute.

 

The fight for position starts

Dehaes went again when the peloton slowed down and he got to within 22 seconds of the leaders before he started to lose ground. With 160km to go, he was one minute behind while the peloton was at 3.30 and still riding slowly.
 

The gap reached a maximum of 4.10 until Astana hit the front as they approached the Ourde Kwaremont, the first climb of the day. The fight for position meant that the gap had dropped to 3.50 by the time they started to climb and it was Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) who set the pace on the lower slopes. Marcus Burghardt (BMC) took over before Marco Coledan (Trek) led the peloton to the top, 4.05 behind the escapees. Dehaes was losing ground and was now 2.25 behind.

 

Demare crashes out of the race

The peloton calmed down a bit and kept the gap at around 4 minutes until the pace heated up when they approached the climb of Kortekeer. Here Arnaud Demare (FDJ) touched wheels with another rider and hit the deck hard, bringing down several riders in the process. Dayer Quintana (Movistar), Tom Van Asbroeck (LottoNL-Jumbo), Zico Waeytens (Giant-Alpecin), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Geraint Thomas (Sky) and Marc Sarreau (FDJ) were all involved but it was the Milan-Sanremo winner who was worst off. The French star was sitting on the asphalt for a long time and ultimately abandoned the race

 

There was no slowdown in the peloton which was fighting hard for position for the Kortekeer climb. Tinkoff won the battle and it was Nikolay Trusov and Pavel Brutt who led the peloton to the top, with Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) riding next to them. Further back, Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) had been involved in the crash and had to stop to get a new bike. It took a long time for him to get going again and he faced a hard chase alongside teammates Van Asbroeck and Robert Wagner.

 

Vanmarcke gets back

The peloton took it rather easy which allowed Vanmarcke to rejoin the peloton while Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data) who had also been involved in the crash, abandoned. The slow pace meant that the gap had gone out to 4.45 by the time, the fight for position for the Eikenberg started with 135km to go.

 

Andriy Grivko (Astana) got an unintended gap as they went up the cobbled climb while Peter Sagan had a mechanical and found himself at the back of the field. Meanwhile, the escapees were going up the Wolvenberg where Pöstlberger had to stop due to a mechanical.

 

Benoot abandons

Grivko crested the summit 4.15 behind the escapees and immediately waited for the peloton which sped down the cobbled descent towards the Wolvenberg. Here a big crash happened, with Tyler Farrar (Dimension Data), Amaury Capiot (Topsport Vlaanderen), Luka Pibernik (Lampre-Merida), Marcus Burghardt (BMC) and most importantly Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) among those involved. The latter two were forced to abandon.

 

The peloton didn’t wait as Keisse upped the pace significantly on the climb, bringing Dehaes back in the process. The Belgian set a fast pace on the Kerkgate cobbles and Fonzi, Bewley, Ferrari, Baugnies, Wagner, Reus, Westra and Tjallingii  were among the first riders to lose contact. At the same time, the gap started to melt away and was down to 3.10 with 123km to go.

 

Martin plays with the muscles

Jasper Stuyven (Trek) had a mechanical and was forced to chase hard to rejoin the peloton which was led by five Etixx-QuickStep riders, with Keisse setting a furious pace. The gap was down to just 2.20 when they hit the Molenberg.

 

Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) launched a furious attack and was followed by Salvatore Puccio (Sky)and André Greipel (Lotto Soudal). At the top, he had created a group of around 20 riders that included several big names. Boonen, Kwiatkowski, Roelandts, Stybar, Sieberg, Sagan, Oss, Marcato, Moscon, Stannard, Vanmarcke and Van Avermaet were all in the group and it was Moscon who moved to the front to share the pace-setting with Martin. Meanwhile, the peloton had exploded to pieces, with Westra now finding himself far behind.

 

The break splits up

With 115km to go, the gap was down to just 1.10 and Martin and Moscon were still riding fast as they went over the Paddestraat cobbles. Nonetheless, a regrouping took place, and it was a 50-rider peloton that gathered while Cannondale led the chase in the second group.

 

The fast pace forced the breakaway to react and it was Houle who split the group. Kreder was the first to surrender and soon after Zurlo was also left behind. However, the Italian managed to rejoin the peloton.

 

Trek on the defensive

Martin attacked on the Paddestraat and got a small gap before Drucker, Fuglsang, Roosen, Puccio, Sieberg, Van Baarle joined him. However, things came back together with 110km to go.

 

Trek were on the defensive as Stuyven had been left behind due to the mechanical. Marel Irizar was chasing hard in a second group that was 35 seconds behind the peloton.

 

The pace goes down

The peloton came to a standstill and this allowed Tom Devriendt (Wanty) and Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale) to take off. The slower pace also made it possible for the Trek group to rejoin the peloton and for Stuyven and Vanmarcke to get their own bikes back.

 

Van Baarle decided to wait for the peloton but Devriedndt pressed on. He pushed the gap out to 25 seconds while the peloton took a small moment to recover.

 

Disaster for Van Avermaet

Despite the slow pace, disaster struck for BMC when Michael Schär, Greg Van Avermaet, Daniel Oss, Michael Schär and Taylor Phinney all went down, bringing Jakob Fuglsang and Ryan Anderson down in the process. Van Avermaet was left in tears as he sat on the ground, forced to leave the race with what looked like a broken arm. Schär was also unable to continue.

 

With 100km to go, the peloton hit the Haaghoek cobbles and this was the time for Nikolas Maes (Etixx-QuickStep) to up the pace. This set Martin up for another attack and he was joined by Heinrich Haussler (IAM). Meanwhile, Zurlo was dropped from the break.

 

Greipel takes off

Martin, Haussler and Devriendt were all brought back when they hit the Leberg where Greipel launched the next attack. The German quickly got a small advantage as the peloton again slowed down.

 

Nils Politt (Katusha) joined Greipel and they quickly pushed their advantage out to 40 seconds as the peloton rode slowly up the Berendries. Meanwhile, Houle was dropped from the break.

 

Lots of attacks

The slow pace allowed Sjoerd van Ginneken (Roompot) and Preben Van Hecke (Topsport) to attack and they quickly got an advantage. At the same time, the front duo managed to extend their advantage from 45 seconds to 1.30.

 

Coledan briefly upped the pace for Trek until they hit the Valkenberg where Mitchell Docker (Orica-GreenEDGE) launched an unsuccessful attack. Michael Gogl (Tinkoff) countered and was joined by Nikolas Maes (Etixx), Markel Irizar (Trek), Puccio and a Wanty rider. The Austrian took off on his own but Trek responded quickly and brought him back.

 

Gruzdev and Claeys take off

Trek took control with Coledan who upped the pace significantly, bringing Van Hecke and Van Ginneken back and keeping the gap at around 1.10. Meanwhile, Politt and Greipel had reduced their deficit to just 15 seconds.

 

Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) and Dmitri Claeys (Wanty) used a series of attacks to surge clear. They quickly got an advantage as the peloton rode slowly until Michal Golas started to chase for Sky.

 

Seven riders gather in the front

At the bottom of the Kaperij with 78km to go, Politt, Greipel and Houle rejoined Van Hoecke and Erviti and they went up the climb with an advantage of 1.30. The peloton had again come to a standstill and this allowed Lars Boom (Astana) to easily rejoin the peloton after a mechanical.

 

Gruzdev and Claeys joined the leaders after the climb and the septet easily pushed their advantage out to almost 2 minutes as they hit the Kanrieberg with 71km to go. In the peloton, there was no real chase and it was more a question of staying in a good position than organizing a chase.

 

A fight for position

The slow pace continued until the gap had gone out to 2.40 with 65km to go where a very big peloton had again gathered. The attacking started when Matthiey Ladagnous (FDJ) made a move but it was the counterattack of Michael Gogl (Tinkoff) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek) that briefly looked promising. However, Martin, Docker, Puccio and Sieberg quickly made it across and as they had the rest of the group in tow, it came back together. Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) also gave it a try but it was impossible to get clear.

 

Another slow phase followed until the fight for position for the Kwaremont started. Direct Energie and Tinkoff hit the front, with Yoann Gene taking some massive turns in what was a big sprint towards the narrow road. Martin took over for Etixx but it was Sky that won the battle with Puccio and Kwaitkowski. It looked like Puccio would be the first rider to hit the climb but it was unable to keep Katusha at bay when they surged ahead, led by Marco Haller and Jacopo Guarnieri. Moments later they hit the climb where the finale started.