Greig Leach

It was Matthew Hayman (Orica GreenEdge) who had slipped away at 72 kilometers to go, only to be brought back into the fold, that got the jump on the more season campaigners who came into the velodrome with the Australian. Hayman seemed stunned and perhaps incredulous that he had actually one this most fabled of one day races. He had just held off the veteran Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quickstep), as well as Ian Stannard (Team Sky). Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL Jumbo) who had felt sure the race was his twenty minutes earlier, missed the podium, having poured all of his energy into the solo effort. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) came home almost a minute and a half later, with Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) arriving another three minutes later covered in the mud of northern France and the sweat of disappointment in a poorly timed tumble.