The 2014 E3 Harelbeke was the 57th running of the

E3 Harelbeke E3 Saxo Bank Classic, previously known as E3 BinckBank Classic, E3 Harelbeke, Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke and E3-Prijs Vlaanderen, is an annual road cycling race in Flanders, Belgium. The race starts and finishes in Harelbeke, covering 203 ki ...

single-day cycling race. It was held on 28 March 2014, over a distance of and was the sixth race of the

2014 UCI World Tour The 2014 UCI World Tour was the sixth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The series started with the opening stage of the 2014 Tour Down Under, Tour Down Under on 21 January, and concluded wi ...

season. The race is often seen as a preparation race for the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

. The race was won by

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-c ...

in a four-man sprint finish.

Teams

As E3 Harelbeke was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Seven other squads were given wildcard places, thus completing the 25-team peloton. The 25 teams that competed in the race were:

Pre-race favourites

E3 Harelbeke comes early in the year so riders who have performed well already in the season are considered highly.

() returned to E3 after a podium finish in 2013 he was considered one of the three main contenders along with

Fabian Cancellara Fabian Cancellara (born 18 March 1981), nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss people, Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He is known for being a qual ...

() and

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...

(). Other riders expected to do well included

Filippo Pozzato Filippo "Pippo" Pozzato (born 10 September 1981) is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the , , , , , , and two spells with the / teams. A cycling classics, northern classics specialist, Pozza ...

(),

Greg Van Avermaet Greg Van Avermaet (born 17 May 1985) is a retired Belgian professional cyclist. Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling, Van Avermaet was a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also won stages and the general cla ...

(),

Sep Vanmarcke Sep Vanmarcke (born 27 July 1988) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2023 for , , , (over two spells), and , before being forced to retire from the sport for medical reasons. During his ...

(),

Edvald Boasson Hagen Edvald Boasson Hagen (born 17 May 1987) is a Norwegian former road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2006 to 2024. He was ranked as no. 3 in the world by Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI as of 31 August 2009, when he was 22 y ...

() and

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad. During ...

().

Matteo Trentin Matteo Trentin (born 2 August 1989) is an Italian professional cyclist, who rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . Having initially started his career in cyclo-cross, Trentin has competed more prominently in road bicycle racing, having taken almo ...

and

Mark Renshaw Mark Renshaw (born 22 October 1982) is a retired Australian racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2019 for the , , , , and teams. His most notable wins are the general classification of the 2011 Tour of Qatar, and the one-d ...

both from were expected to finish highly in the race but pulled out of the race following a tough

Milan–San Remo Milan–Sanremo (in italian language, Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance ...

Race report

The 212 km day started with high paced racing where many riders tried to form a break but were caught by the peloton again. About an hour into the race the first real break was established with five riders. They were: Maxime Daniel (),

Jérôme Cousin Jérôme Cousin (born 5 June 1989) is a French professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . In October 2015 announced that Cousin would join them from 2016 on a two-year contract, after six years with and its previous ...

(),

Florian Sénéchal Florian Sénéchal (born 10 July 1993) is a French bicycle racing, racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . A classics specialist, Sénéchal has taken five victories during his professional career, including a stage win at the 2021 Vuelta a ...

(),

Jay Thomson Jay Robert Thomson (born 12 April 1986) is a South African former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2020, for the , , , and teams. In 2013 he won the South African National Road Race Championships. He rode i ...

() and

Laurens De Vreese Laurens De Vreese (born 29 September 1988) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI ProTeam . De Vreese was the 2010 Belgian national champion for the road race for riders under 23 years of age, winning the title ...

(). The group worked well together gaining a maximum advantage of seven minutes over the peloton. The race had many crashes with

Svein Tuft Svein Tuft (born May 9, 1977) is a Canadian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2019 for the , , , and teams. Tuft was the winner of the 2006–07 UCI America Tour, and was a thirteen-time champion at the Canadia ...

() the first to abandon. With 45km to go

Thor Hushovd Thor Hushovd (born 18 January 1978) is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer. He is known for sprinting and time trialing; Hushovd is a three-time Norwegian National Road Race Championships, Norwegian national road race champion ( ...

() was part of a high-speed crash involving

Michel Kreder Michel Kreder (born 15 August 1987) is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2019. Career Following a four-year stint with , Kreder signed with for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. However, in Septem ...

() where they both abandoned. Up next was the Kapelberg, a stretch of road before the decisive

Paterberg The Paterberg is a hill in the municipality of Kluisbergen, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. With its top at 80 m, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, close to Wallonia. The slopes of the hill were unpaved un ...

and

Oude Kwaremont The Oude Kwaremont ( English: ''Old Kwaremont'') is a road in Kluisbergen, a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The Oude Kwaremont, contrary to popular belief, is not the name of a hill, but the name of one of the cobbled ro ...

. The break's gap had been reduced to one minute and a half with teams working hard to catch them. Cancellara was caught out by a major crash on the Kapelberg forcing him to chase. Vanmarcke led the front group over the

while

Geraint Thomas Geraint Howell Thomas, ( , ; born 25 May 1986) is a Welsh professional racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam , Wales and Great Britain. He is one of the few riders in the modern era to achieve significant elite success as both a track and ...

() led them over the

these efforts blew the peloton apart forming an eight-man group at the front followed by a fourteen-man chase bunch. Over the Karnemelkbeekstraat Sagan attacked with Thomas,

Niki Terpstra Niki Terpstra (; born 18 May 1984) is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2022 for six different teams. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Mike Terpstra (cyclist), Mike Terpstra. He is the third Dutch c ...

and

Stijn Vandenbergh Stijn Vandenbergh (born 25 April 1984) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2020 for the , , and teams. Born in Oudenaarde, Vandenbergh, as a first year professional, won the first sta ...

(both ) the only riders able to follow. With 10km to go the quartet had 45 seconds lead on the chase bunch. Since had two riders in the front bunch Terpstra stopped contributing to the pace making. Vandenbergh tried to attack multiple times in the final kilometeres but each time Thomas or Sagan would close him down. This led to a four-man sprint where Sagan took victory with Terpstra second and Thomas in third.

Results

Sources:

References

External links

* {{E3 Harelbeke

E3 Saxo Bank Classic