Hel van Het Mergelland - what the...

afx237vi

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id= ... rgelland08

Two High Road riders get away and beat the field by nearly seven minutes?! In a one-day race?! Was there a blizzard or something?

CSC, Milram and a bunch of other teams didn't have a single rider that finished :shock:

redddraggon

Hell of a lot DNFs, it must have been bad?

josd

"The two riders had such a large lead that Martin could afford to stop and wait when Hansen punctured with 10 km to go. That was when the two decided that the 22 year-old German should take the victory. "Adam said I should win after he punctured and I waited for him," Martin said. "I am very happy. This is my first win as a member of a ProTour team. Incredible."

Martin and Hansen crossed the finish line hand-in-hand, with Martin slightly ahead. Only 37 riders finished the race. It was supposed to end with two laps of a closing round course, but that was reduced to one lap so that the two leaders would not overtake the following group."

OffTheBackAdam

One of the photos is entitled "Wet conditions made for a tough race"
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2008/apr08/mergelland08/DSC_0075
I'd guess the bunch just let them clear off and when push came to shove, nobody could be bothered to chase them down.
Once Alejet packed, no point in the rest of the team carrying on, unless they fancied a cold & wet training session.