Home > News

Geraint Thomas powers to victory in E3 Harelbeke

Briton Geraint Thomas (Sky) took one of the biggest wins of his career by soloing to victory Friday in the WorldTour Flanders Classic E3 Harelbeke, attacking his two breakmates four-kilometres out and powering over the line. It was another fine day for Sky as Richie Porte (Australia) took over the lead of the Volta a Catalunya with two stages to go, and Ben Swift took the second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

E3 Harelbeke is essentially a condensed version of the Tour of Flanders with many of the same cobbles, hellingen and cobbled hellingen, including the pavéed ascent duo of Paterberg (700-metres of 12%) and Oude Kwaremont near the end. The final short, steep hill is Tiegemberg (1-km, 6.5%) with 19-km to go.

Six riders escaped early in dry conditions and grabbed a 9:10 gap 90-km into the race. The real drama was happening behind where crashes took out several riders, including three-time winner Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland/Trek) who wrecked on the Haaghoek section of cobbles. It appears that Cancellara will have to miss the rest of the spring calendar with fractures in the back.

By the time the sextet reached the fifth climb of Boigneberg, the Tinkoff-Saxo-led peloton had chipped the lead away to 6:00. Andrea Dal Col (Italy/Southeast) was the first fugitive to fall away on the Eikenberg. In the peloton, BMC were busy driving the pace with Daniel Oss (Italy) nosing off the front on the Taaienberg with three others, but the chase was gobbled up on the 15-km between the Taaienberg and the next climb.

The pace of the main bunch–often responding to digs–reduced the number of riders to about 70 and caused the gap to the escape to tumble further. More attacks flared out on the Knokteberg.

The two climbs leading to the Paterberg were likely to spring an attacks. The Kortekeer at the 157-km mark is a kilometre long and 6.4% average and the Kapelberg 12-km later is 1.2-km in length and an average of 7.1%. The teams were desperate to position their likely lads at the front. The breakaway lost one more comrade at the 65-km to go mark.

By the time the leading quartet hit the Kapelberg, its gap was down to 1:19 as Sky took control at the front of the peloton. The favourites kept their powder dry for the Paterberg. After the Kapelberg, the breakaway quartet had become a trio. On the Paterberg it was gutter time. Dries Devenyns (Belgium/IAM) bolted on his breakmates while in the peloton Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium/LottoNL-Jumbo) unclipped just as he stood to attack. Oss led the main group over the top, causing splits.

With 40-km remaining and the Oude Kwaremont looming, Devenyns carried on 30-seconds ahead of a select 30-man group. Thomas and Strade Bianche winner Zdeněk Štybar (Czech Republic/Etixx-QuickStep) darted ahead on the cobbled climb, drawing Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo) to bridge over before they swallowed up Devenyns and spat him out.

Only the Tiegemberg was left. BMC, including Oss and his teammate Greg van Avermaet (Belgium), led a chase group of fifteen riders containing Vanmarcke behind the new leading trio. The chase group swelled as the race headed towards the Tiegemberg.

Å tybar, Sagan and Thomas arrived at the foot of Tiegemberg with a 43-second gap that BMC could not close down. However, after the final helligen, the lead was 27-seconds. Van Avermaet crashed in the chase, ending his day and slowing down the group. With 16-km to go the gap swelled to 48-seconds. The impetus seemed to drop from the chase. The 59th E3 Harelbeke would be contested by the trio.

Just over 4-km remaining, Thomas darted ahead. The Czech fought to reach him, but the Slovakian was finished. The Brit pulled out a 12-second gap with 2.5-km remaining and took a famous win, only the second anglophone to snag the prize. Å tybar finished 25-seconds in arrears. Sagan was caught by the chase, so Matteo Trentin (Italy) made it two Etixx riders on the podium.

Hugo Houle (Ag2r) was top Canadian at 46th, while Antoine Duchesne (Europcar) was 59th.

2015 E3 Harelbeke

1) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Sky) 5:15
2) Zdeněk Štybar (Czech Republic/Etixx-QuickStep) +0:25
3) Matteo Trentin (Italy/Etixx-QuickStep) +0:38
46) Hugo Houle (Canada/Ag2r) +3:21
59) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Europcar) s.t.

Categories: News |