Sütterlin takes brilliant 9th in Harelbeke; Castrillo in early break
29 March 2019

E3 BinckBank Classic / Settimana Coppi e Bartali (st. 3)

German powerhouse from Movistar Team honours Blue jersey with all-time best performance for the squad in the prestigious Flemish classic, on the attack for the last 50km after long escape from Jaime. No GC changes in Coppi e Bartali before decisive weekend.

Two former cyclo-cross world champions, Zdenek Stybar (DQT) and Wout van Aert (TJV), overtook big favourite Greg van Avermaet (CPT) at the sprint of the 2019 E3 BinckBank Classic, always known as E3 Harelbeke and held on Friday over 203km with some of the most famous hills and cobbles in Flanders.

Castrillo in the early break. (c) Luca Bettini / BettiniPhoto

A five-man group contested the victory in the Belgian WorldTour classic after catching a courageous Bob Jungels (DQT), who split the leading group in the final 30km after bridging to the early break. The first echelon contained Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar Team), who had attacked from the bunch with 55km remaining to keep the Blues in the lead, following a long, early break from young team-mate Jaime Castrillo. Following a big effort together with fellow countryman Nils Politt (TKA), and together with Jungels and Marc Hirschi (SUN), Sütterlin was able to complete the legendary climbs of Paterberg and Oude Kwaremont as head of the race.

The final gallop by the favourites and Jungels’ attack dropped Jasha back to a second group, where he still obtained a very strong 9th place, the Movistar Team’s best ever result in Harelbeke and a further confirmation of the German’s progression in his beloved Northern classics.

Settimana Coppi e Bartali: No GC changes in hilly Forlì circuit

Despite the seven climbs to the Rocca delle Caminate (3.6 km at 6.5%) in the 166km stage three of the 2019 Settimana Coppi e Bartali in and around Forlì, the main bunch’s efforts aborted every single break attempt and took things down to a 50-man sprint, won by Simone Velasco (NSK).

 

Anacona and Fernández during stage three of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali. (c) Dario Belingheri / BettiniPhoto

The main group featured four (Anacona, Landa, Pedrero and Fernández) of the six Movistar Team riders on course, after Daniele Bennati was forced to DNF in Thursday’s tough course, not fully recovered yet from last month’s bronchitis. Mikel remains in 4th place overall, 22″ behind Lucas Hamilton (MTS), with two days remaining in the race, including Saturday’s sprinter circuit in Crevalcore (171km).

Cover picture (c): Luca Bettini / BettiniPhoto