Geraint Thomas of Team Sky has won the E3 Harelbeke classic race in Belgium.
Another race of cobbles and climbs, this time over 218kms is the E3 Harelbeke, which is where the race starts and finishes.
Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Dries Devenyns (IAM Cycling), Sébastien Turgot (AG2R-La Mondiale), Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka), Andrea Dal Col (Southeast) and Sjoerd van Ginneken (Team Roompot).were the first to break away from a strong field which included last year's winner Peter Sagan.
They built a lead of three minutes whilst behind them, there was a big crash which took down the likes of four times E3 winner Cancellara, Boom, Langeveld, Degenkolb and many others. Most were able to get back in the peloton apart from Cancellera, who was involved in a 'massive crash on the Haaghoek and severely hurt his lower back, fracturing two vertebrae, his left wrist and hand' and Langveld who abandoned along with Lotto Soudal duo Gert Dockx and Vergard Breen.
The six out front were 4.45 ahead after fifty eight kilometres and 9.10 ahead thirty kilometres later.
Thomas Voeckler of Europcar joined the growing list of those who abandoned after another crash while the six leaders took their advantage to over ten minutes.
Dries Devenyns led what was left of the escapers up the Taaienberg climb with a lead that had shrunk to 5:08 as attacked came from the peloton.
Oss, Breschel, Benoot and Trentino all tried to escape the clutches of the peloton but they were not allowed any freedom and immediately brought back into the fold.
Sbaragli, Devenyns, Turgot, De Bie, Van Ginneken pressed on with a lead of 3.45 which was down to 2.15 with 66 kilometres and after Nairo Quintana had quit the race, left but up to 2.39 ten kilometres later.
Van Ginneken was dropped from the lead group which now comprised of De Bie, Devenyns and Sbaragli who were only 1.15 ahead.
Sbaragli was shred and on the Oude Kwaremont, Geraint Thomas was one who launched an attack to try and being them back along with Peter Sagan and Zdenek Stybar.
They caught the escapers and onto the cobbles of the Varent, Thomas, Sagan and Stybar were forty one seconds ahead with just over twenty kilometres left to race.
Greg Van Avermaet went down in a big crash as the gap dropped to 21 seconds but went out to 54 seconds with fourteen kilometres left.
The trio worked well together before Geraint Thomas decided to go for broke with 4.5 kilometres left.
Three kilometres later and the Welshman opened up a lead of fifteen seconds over Stybar and thirty seconds over Sagan and Thomas was not to be caught and took the win with Stybar second and with Peter Sagan caught before the line and finishing over a minute down on Thomas' time, it was Matteo Trentin who finished third, followed by Kristoff, Vanmarcke, Breschel, Roelandts, Bauer, Keukeleire and Oss.