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Usually, the tough course around Bech provides us with very nice races and this year wasn't an exception at all, on a sunny and windy afternoon. A first decision fell early with about 15 riders breaking away after three of the thirteen laps and after that, the wind took his toll and they were only four left going for the win in the last lap, amongt them two riders from Differdange. During the two last years, the riders from Gabriel Gatti have not been able to snatch the win, but during this season's 29th edition, they were on top of the game again, taking their 5th win in 8 editions that took place in Bech: Cedrik Raymackers and Filip Bengtsson managed a one-two, Bengtsson also won the best U23 rider title and Tiago Da Silva was best home rider.
Among the 78 riders at the start, a few were not very patient and accelerated as of the first meters of the race. After one kilometre of racing, they were four in the lead with a small margin on the next group: Brend Muyrers, Marthijs Koedijk, Merlijn Decoster and Brent Masure were chased by Antoine Guyot, Vincent De Sy and a few more, with the peloton also starting to react behind them. Everything came together again a little bit later, but Koedijk insisted again, breaking away with Swedisch rider Filip Bengtsson this time. Both of the resisted for a few kilometres at the head of the race, before being replaced by a French duo: Marc Féraud and Julien Laidoun, certainly one of the favourites of the race. Behind them, of course, it was time to react and more of the strong men accelerated like Cedric Raymackers, 6th in last years race, fomer Continental professional rider Jean-Albert Carnevali, from CC Chevigny, or Brent Driesen from the Prorace Cycling Team.
The pace was high at the head of the peloton and, being under pressure since the beginning of the race, the bunch exploded into pieces as of the third lap. 14 riders found themselves at the front of the race, among them 3 members of Team Differdange (Tiago Da Silva, Cedric Raymackers, Filip Bengtsson) and of the Prorace Cycling Team (Joshua Teasdale, Vincent De Sy, Brent Driesen), 2 riders of the Wielerploeg Groot Amsterdam (Matthijs Koedijk and Max Van de Water) and from the Macadam Cowboys (Antoine Guyot and Marc Feraud) as well as Andreas Fliessgarten (Team Erdinger), Jean-Albert Carnevali (CC Chevigny), Julien Laidoun (Pédale Suippase) and the surprising Tim Diderich from Muselbikes. Behind them, about 20 contenders were chasing hard, led by the Rockpalast-Marcello Team (Waldbrühl, Brenner, Derksen), but in this group, several more riders from Amsterdam, Prorace and Differdange didn't participate in the chase.
The advantage of the leading group was soon close to a minute, but then started to go down again: they were too many at the front and the collaboration wasn't very good, with lots of attacks. But as the chasers came closer and closer and a regroupement seemed possible, more accelerations in the front group changed the race again: 11 riders remained in the lead, a little bit later they were only eight left: the three from Differdange (Da Silva, Raymackers, Bengtsson) plus Carnevali, Teasdale, Fliessgarten, Laidoun and Koedijk. With a reduced group, the collaboration was a lot better and the 8 leaders increased the gap to their next followers again. In the meanwhile, a few riders came back stronly from behind: Jan Petelin, Louis Deguide, Gero Walbrül, the De Sy brothers and Roy Van Heeswijk were now the chasers of the 8 at the front.
With two laps to go, the leading groupe broke into two and four riders stayed in the lead: Jean-Albert Carnevali, Joshua Teasdale, Cedric Raymackers and Filip Bengtsson seemed the strongest in the race and they had left Laidoun, Fliessgarten, Da Silva and Koedijk behind them, with a strong Vincent De Sy bridging up to this second group. At the bell, the advantage of the four leaders was about two minutes already and the last lap became of course a very tactical one. The two riders from Differdange attacked one after another, with Carnevali and Teasdale having to make a big effort to bring them back each time.
In the end, the strongest in the group was Cedric Raymackers: with two kilometres to go, on the false flat between Berbourg and Bech and in the headwind, the Belgian put in a big effort and nobody was able to bring him back. He quickly put nearly 45 seconds between him and the next chasers and took the time to celebrate on the line: Cedric Raymackers won the 29th Grand-prix OST-Manufaktur 41 secondes ahead of his Swedish team-mate and best U23 rider Filip Bengtsson who sprinted faster than Joshua Teasdale, for a very international podium. Behind Carnevali and Koedijk, Vincent De Sy took 6th place as second best U23 rider, one position ahead of Tiago Da Silva, third U23 contender and best home rider of the race.
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