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news
Geraint Thomas in 2015 Sky kit (source Teamsky.com)Geraint Thomas wins E3 Harelebeke after solo attack
Geraint Thomas of Team Sky has taken the biggest one-day race of his career, the E3 Harelbeke, on a day when Trek Factory Racing’s Fabian Cancellara's Classics campaign ended after he crashed, breaking two vertebrae.
Thomas, who is in terrific form and last Sunday was one of the main protagonists of a hard-fought edition of Milan-San Remo, was back in the mix today launching an attack 38 kilometres out, with only Etixx-Quick Step’s Zdenek Stybar and last year’s winner, Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan, responding.
The Welshman attacked again with 4km to go of the UCI WorldTour-ranked race, Stybar trying but unable to pull him back. Sagan, meanwhile, faded late on and third place went to another Etixx-Quick Step rider, Matteo Trentin.
While Sagan may have missed out on a podium place today, he did get some cause to celebrate after he was presented with his weight in beer prior to the race for winning last year’s edition – something Thomas will no doubt look forward to receiving in 12 months’ time.
Cancellara was among a number of riders caught up in a big crash on a cobbled descent after 40 kilometres of the race and broke two vertebrae, which will rule him out of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – there is an update on his injury here, including his reaction.
After the race, Thomas, quoted on the Team Sky website, said: “I can’t quite believe it. That last attack took me back to my track days and I imagined I was trying to hold Ed Clancy’s wheel in the team pursuit. I felt pretty good during the second half of the race and committed at the end.
“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.
“This six-week period we’re in from Paris-Nice to Paris-Roubaix is my big focus of the season,” he added. “The way Paris-Nice finished was disappointing, but I felt good again at Milan-San Remo, and to get the win now is really special,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
Credit to Sky for the results so far this season. They said they were disappointed with the one day races last year and it's obvious they've done something about it. And I think there's more to come.
Is this a sign that Sky are becoming a more rounded team rather than the USPS Tour win at all costs clones? I do hope so. Attacking is so much more fun than just riding on the front all day!
G and Stannard are my favourite British riders. 'Proper' tough guys. Congratulations both. Awesome achievement
Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix predictions anyone?
Just watching the 3 yesterday i think Sagan is carrying a lot more bulk than the other 2 which obviously suits if it comes down to a sprint but against Thomas and Stybar i think he just burnt himself out trying to keep up with them and when Thomas went for it he had absolutely nothing left.
In a bigger group he might have done a lot better with less time on the front or is the pressure getting to him, big contract in a big team with big expectations of him ???
Yeah, this has been a factor of his racing of late. He seems to have lost his ability to 'go long' like Cancellara and Boonen have so often done. Unfortunately he has sat in this position of 'quasi-classics-sprinter' specialist that I think he is trying to be Jack of all trades and master of none. He needs to just focus on one or the other and IMO he probably needs to focus on the classics as his top end isn't good enough against the true sprinters.
It's difficult to tell if he's stronger than last year or whether he just appears that way.
Having watched sagan lose several finishes. I have noticed that if his cadence is higher than his competition then he his on his limit and probably can't contest the sprint. Yesterday Thomas was able to turn a bigger gear than his two break away riders. Only a case when Geraint was going to win.
Did Sagan's legs fall off?
It pretty much looked like it. BMC crash took the heat out of the pursuit, front 3 started looking at each other at about 6k to go, at 4k G went and Sagan had no change of pace at all. Instantly apparent he had nothing to give.
Yah well chuff with the G-Unit bringing it home. I agree with BikeAndy, he'll be closely marked in de Ronde now. Although that could play into the hands of Sky with G and Stannard doing to old 1-2 in the final.
It seems that Sagan just doesn't know who to win without a reduced bunch sprint. He's in a bit of a tough spot in my opinion.
If he misses the move the bunch expect him or his Tinkoff superteam to put in work, if he's in the move no one wants to work with him and get ruffed up in the sprint. He can't really win, he was better of a cannondale because he never had to do work on the front because the rest of his team were in the grupetto after putting in work and he could surf wheels in the sprint.
Popdeping!
So Brit has won 3 out of the last 4 classics\semi-classics.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - Stannard
Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne - Cavendish
E3 Harelbeke - Thomas
Nice
Wow great result! Well done G!
cymru am byth good man G hope we will see more from you
awwwwwww yeah
go G
A great ride and bodes well for the next couple of races.....though does this mean he's going to be more marked in ToF and PR?
Riding out of his skin this year. We'll done G!
Absolutely brilliant, a massive well done