Amstel Gold, here come the Ardennes. For many riders these races will make or break their season. For others, it could be a chance to step into the limelight and finally realise their potential.
Favourites today are Valverde, Schleck and Ricco, although the likes of Hagen, Trofimov and Ulissi will be up there come the finish. Other riders to look out for are Spilak, Sinkewitz, Gesink and Sanchez Gil.
Let 250km of rain, wind and pain commence
B&O are nervous initially and chase down the early attempts to form a breakaway
And again, still no other team has had a rider on the front of the peleton and we've had 50km of racing, Hagen must think this is his year
A group of ten is eventually let go: Rangel, Kvist, Brizuela, De Haes, Deroo, Brouzes, Duran, Lhotellerie, Hopman and Possoni
Hopman happily sits at the back of the break, waiting for Schleck, in 4 hours time.
Deroo punctures and has to let go of the break
While working, Smukulis and Herve ride off the front
150km to go and Dees and Soler go clear of the peleton
140km to go and Burghardt and Kiserlovski also attack
134km and Deroo catches the leaders again, the break currently has 5'42" with the attackers scattered between the two
Burghardt and Kiserlovski catch Soler and Dees
122km and the Bacardi riders catch the break
10km later so do the rest of the attackers, the gap is down to 4 minutes now so their attempts look doomed to failure
95km to go and Di Luca attacks from the peleton, the break has less than 3 minutes
Casar goes with him
Vesuvio don't trust this move and together with a few other teams keep the gap at under a minute
This pace is taking it's toll, we start to lose riders off the back of the bunch
Di Luca and Casar put up a valiant effort but on the flat roads and into a headwind they never really stand a chance.
The gap to the break is now 1'30" and we have 60km to go
The break splits, and the lead 5: Brouzes, Possoni, Brizuela, Hopman and Lhotellerie have a minute when we leave the flat roads for the last time
And with 31km to go we are all together again
29km to go and Tejay Van Garderen kicks off the attacks.
Vanendert and Gautier try to follow
On the downhill Sanchez Gil and Burghardt also attack.
The 4 chasers join, 30 seconds behind Van Garderen but they have a full minute on the peleton
4 climbs to go and Bakelants and Trofimov attack
Initially no one responds, but when Hagen goes after them, Spilak and Sanchez Gonzalez are straight in his wheel
Bakelants makes contact with the chasers as they reach the top
While back in the peleton it's the world champions turn to go
Over the top, Anza Ricco and Sinkewitz all try their luck
Up ahead all the other attackers have joined to form a ten man chase group. Van Garderen has extended his advantage to 40 seconds
Time for the third last climb and Gesink and Kirchen attack at the base
Klemme, Ulissi and Rodriguez Oliver attack as well
Over the top Vanendert and Gautier go together after Van Garderen, his only has 35 seconds on them
They get closed down and we now have a group of 17 chasers which contains all the attackers except Klemme, who is with Ghisalberti a minute behind
Meanwhile Frank Schleck is in 2nd position in the peleton, however they are losing time, now fully 2'30" behind our solo leader who has just 15km to go
We hit the penultimate hill and immediately Rodriguez Oliver and Burghardt have to let go.
And while the pace begins to tell on our leader Hagen and Sanchez Gonzalez try and jump across
It's as if Van Garderen is standing still, Hagen cruises up to him
As the two attacks manage to create a small gap Bakelants goes to close it down
Further back, Schleck attacks. Has he left it too late?
Edvald is like a steam train today and Sanchez Gonzalez has to let go of his wheel as the climb flattens
Bakelants goes past him and tries desperately to make up ground on this false flat
Spilak and Trofimov are next to attack the chasers
And, along with Ulissi they catch Sanchez Gonzalez on the decent
Up front howver, Bakelants has descend beautifully and has formed a front two 36" clear with 10km to go
After the 4 chasers we have a 12 man group at 1'22"
They are: Gesink, SInkewitz, Valverde, Kirchen, Ricco, Van Garderen, Rodriguez Oliver, Vanendert, Sanchez Gil, Gautier, Anza and just sneaking on the back, Schleck.
Kirchen and Gautier attack on the flat before the Cauberg
Anza tries to go as well
with 7km to go Sanchez Gonzalez makes a last desperate attempt to get to the lead pair, Spilak follows.
Sanchez Gonzalez gets pulled back by Trofimov, Spilak goes clear though
Rodriguez Oliver attacks across to Kirchen and Vanendert, Anza having gone nowhere.
while Trofimov manages to ride the Festina pair off his wheel
Rodriguez Oliver is followed by Schleck, Gesink, Sinkewitz, Ricco and Valverde, forming a group of 8
While Trofimov has caught Spilak, the leaders now only have 20 seconds
Sanchez Gonzlez pulls himself back up to them, with Ulissi just about hanging on. One of these six will definitely win it, as they have 2 minute on the chasing 8 with just 2.5km left.
In other words, it's time for the Cauberg.
And Immediately Bakelants is in trouble
while Sanchez Gonzalez and Ulissi move to the front of the chasing quartet
The sprint is on and Bakelants can't seem to close that gap
Behind, Sanchez Gonzalez has gone clear, while Spilak and Trofimov are battling it out for 4th
Up front Edvald Boasson Hagen takes an excellent victory.
Bakelants is second
Sanchez Gonzalez takes the final podium spot, while Trofimov sneaks 4th ahead of Spilak
Ulissi cruises in for 6th
While Schleck shows what could have been in the fastest accent up the Cauberg to take 7th ahead of Gesink
Valverde gets eight, with Sinkewitz and Ricco rounding out the top ten
The next 4 places are taken by Kirchen, Vanendert, Rodriguez Oliver and Sanchez Gil.
All the glory, and the top step on the podium goes to Mr. E.B. Hagen
