La prima tappa del World Ports Classic (Olanda) è terreno fertile per il giovane Jelle Wallays che ottiene per distacco il successo nella prima tappa da Amberes a Roterdam. Wallays si è presentato all'arrivo con 26" di vantaggio sul gruppo compatto, regolato dal tedesco Greipel con Alessandro Petacchi che chiude in terza posizione.

Belgian Jelle Wallays (TopSport), the lone survivor of a five-man breakaway, took a solo win in Rotterdam at the end of the first stage of the 2013 World Ports Classic. In one fell swoop, the 24-year-old Flemish rider and 2010 Paris-Tours Espoirs champion got his first pro win and pulled on the blue jersey as the leader of the general classification.

World Ports Classic Act II gets rolling at 11:35. The sun shone above the heads of Antwerp mayor, Bart De Wever, and his Rotterdam counterpart, Ahmed Aboutaleb, as they kicked off the second edition of the World Ports Classic in front of Antwerp's Museum aan de Stroom this morning. Although today's 165 km stage to Rotterdam presented no major difficulties, it did have four cobbled sectors for the Northern classic specialists in the 138-strong peloton to make their move. Petacchi grabs three seconds. The high pace set by André Greipel's Lotto-Belisol teammates from the start deterred potential adventurers from trying their luck in the first few kilometres and ensured the bunch reached the first intermediate sprint in Brecht (km 15.5) together. Sparks flew as Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Alessandro Petacchi came out on top ahead of Greipel and Belkin's Renshaw. The veteran Italian (39 years old) snapped up a 3-second time bonus which could well prove decisive in the general classification. Five men wind their way. The kilometres after the intermediate sprint saw a flurry of attacks at the front of the race, but it was not until km 44.5 that five men managed to sneak away from the pack. The escapees, Belgians Van Bilsen, Wallays (TopSport) and Van Melsen (Accent Jobs), Dutchman Honig (Crelan) and American Rathe (Garmin), held a 2?15? gap at the first cobbled sector in Galder (km 63). Shortly after the Rijsbergen feeding zone (km 71.5), the five breakaways were forced to stop due to an open bascule bridge, but the wheel of fortune turned back in their favour when their advantage ballooned to 4'45" due to a signalling error. Wallays in pursuit mode with the bunch hot on his heels. Meanwhile, in the main field, Bryan Coquard hit the deck at km 122, as alarm bells started ringing and the sprinters' teams, with Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Lotto-Belisol at the fore, injected considerable urgency into the pursuit, breaking the peloton into two parts. The bunch soon regrouped and was just 1'15" behind the five escapees with 25 km to go, when Jelle Wallays launched a well-placed attack to which his breakaway companions had no answer. The young Belgian held his ground and still had a 1'25" gap with 10 km to go. He did not falter in the last few kilometres and took a solo win in Rotterdam, inaugurating his professional palmarès. André Greipel and Alessandro Petacchi led the peloton home 26 seconds back.

Ordine d'arrivo

1 98 Jelle WALLAYS TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 03:32:33
2 11 André GREIPEL LOTTO-BELISOL 00:00:26
3 5 Alessandro PETACCHI OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 00:00:26
4 51 Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL VACANSOLEIL-DCM 00:00:26
5 81 Jonathan CANTWELL TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 00:00:26
6 41 Gerald CIOLEK MTN-QHUBEKA 00:00:26
7 71 Alexander PORSEV KATUSHA TEAM 00:00:26
8 4 Nikolas MAES OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 00:00:26
9 91 Michael VAN STAEYEN TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 00:00:26
10 141 Danilo NAPOLITANO ACCENT JOBS-WANTY 00:00:26
11 101 Raymond KREDER GARMIN - SHARP 00:00:26
12 166 Fabian SCHNAIDT CHAMPION SYSTEM 00:00:26
13 78 Alexei TSATEVICH KATUSHA TEAM 00:00:26
14 94 Tom VAN ASBROECK TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 00:00:26
15 116 Michael SCHWARZMANN TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA 00:00:26
16 35 Jos VAN EMDEN BELKIN PRO CYCLING 00:00:26
17 27 Tom VEELERS TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 00:00:26
18 145 Stefan VAN DIJK ACCENT JOBS-WANTY 00:00:26
19 117 Scott THWAITES TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA 00:00:26
20 97 Pieter VANSPEYBROUCK TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 00:00:26
21 147 James VANLANDSCHOOT ACCENT JOBS-WANTY 00:00:26
22 24 Roy CURVERS TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 00:00:26
23 72 Marco HALLER KATUSHA TEAM 00:00:26
24 112 Markus EICHLER TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA 00:00:26
25 6 Niki TERPSTRA OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 00:00:26
26 128 Louis VERHELST COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS 00:00:26
27 151 Renaud DION BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT 00:00:26
28 55 Wouter MOL VACANSOLEIL-DCM 00:00:26
29 83 Jonas JORGENSEN TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 00:00:26
30 95 Kenneth VAN BILSEN TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 00:00:26
31 157 Pierre-Luc PERICHON BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT 00:00:26
32 22 Jonas AHLSTRAND TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 00:00:26
33 32 Rick FLENS BELKIN PRO CYCLING 00:00:26
34 154 Benoit JARRIER BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT 00:00:26
35 96 Gijs VAN HOECKE TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 00:00:26
36 111 Blaz JARC TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA 00:00:26
37 143 Jean-Pierre DRUCKER ACCENT JOBS-WANTY 00:00:26
38 7 Matteo TRENTIN OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 00:00:26
39 45 Andreas STAUFF MTN-QHUBEKA 00:00:26
40 1 Gert STEEGMANS OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 00:00:26
41 126 Tristan VALENTIN COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS 00:00:26
42 86 Takashi MIYAZAWA TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 00:00:26
43 93 Jarl SALOMEIN TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE 00:00:26
44 156 Benjamin LEMONTAGNER BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT 00:00:26
45 74 Sergey NIKOLAEV KATUSHA TEAM 00:00:26
46 171 Boris VALLEE COLOR CODE-BIOWANZE 00:00:26
47 162 Matt BRAMMEIER CHAMPION SYSTEM 00:00:26
48 148 Benjamin VERRAES ACCENT JOBS-WANTY 00:00:26
49 136 Reinier HONIG CRELAN-EUPHONY 00:00:26
50 68 Angelo TULIK TEAM EUROPCAR 00:00:26