Late attacks by ORICA-GreenEDGE animated the Cyclassic (Vattenfall) one day race in Germany today.  Simon Clarke launched a solo attack with 4.5km left in the race and Michael Albasini tested his chances with a lone push with less than three kilomtetres remaining.

"The big thing in the race today was a massive pile up around the 50km to go mark" explained sports director Matt White.   "There were 35 or so guys in the crash, that ended the race for a lot of them. After that, the bunch was only about 50 riders."

Most of the other riders spent the rest of the day trying to reconnect with the main bunch.  Unfortunately for ORICA-GreenEDGE Magnus Cort and Leigh Howard, the designated sprinters, were caught in the crash.

"Not the best of luck today," continued White. 

"This race is always one for the pure sprinters, we are looking forward to GP Plouay next week.  It's more of a championship type of course.  And if you look at the start list, you can see many favourites for the upcoming world championships are opting for these races and the Canadian races (over the Vuelta) to prepare for the Worlds so we are seeing strong contenders here."

Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) was the victor of the day in the sprint finish. The top finisher for Orica-GreenEDGE was Albasini, who finished safely in the front group.