British sprinter finds late-season form to give himself a belated birthday present
Adam Blythe (BMC Racing) took a belated 23nd birthday present, a he won a rainy edition of Binche-Tournai-Binche/Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke as he outsprinted the remains of the depleted peloton on the race’s cobbled finishing straight. The British sprinter launched his effort from a long way out and managed to hold on to win by several lengths over Frenchman Adrien Petit (Cofidis). German sprinter John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) was handed a rare defeat, and finished in third place at the end of the 200km race.
"Quinzi [Manuel Quinziato - ed] did his last effort on the little climb before the cobblestone section and kept it in one line and then Michi [Michael Schär - ed] just went full gas across the cobblestones," said Blythe. "I attacked with about 700 meters to go, which was a bit risky, but I gave everything to hold it to the line.
"It's a bit late, but I've finally got some good form now," he added. "It's nice to win at the end of the season like this."
The final Walloon race of the season began under heavy rain, with the peloton splitting after the first hour as a group of around 40 riders moved clear off the front. After around 100km, this group was joined by another of equal size, which saw a peloton of around 80 riders entering the second half of the race.
A group of 17 riders escaped before the peloton hit the four 16.2km finishing circuits, which included Jürgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol), Dennis van Winden, Jetse Bol and Rick Flens (all Rabobank), and Kasper Klostergaard and Christopher Juul-Jensen (both Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank).
Once again, that group was joined by one of similar size, and the peloton consisted of no more than three dozen riders as it came in to the finish for the final time. BMC Racing then took control, with Quinziato leading Schär and Blythe into the finsih; once led out by Schär, Blythe opened up his sprint before the cobbles began and the other sprinters were unable to come around the British rider who had celebrated his birthday the previous day.
Result 2012 Binche-Tournai-Binche/Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke
1. Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC Racing Team
2. Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis
3. John Degenkolb (Ger) Argos-Shimano
4. Sebastian Stamegna (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
5. Dennis van Winden (Ned) Rabobank
6. Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bofrost-Steria
7. Maarten Wynants (Bel) Rabobank
8. Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
9. Gäeten Bille (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
10. Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge