Milan Menten gave Lotto-Dstny a decisive win in Dour at Le Samyn, beating Hugo Hofstetter (Arkea-Samsic) into second place and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) in third as a crash involving Kasper Asgreen and Dries de Bondt throughout the ultimate kilometre fractured an already lowered peloton.
The 26-year-old Belgian’s win got here after a day of aggressive back-to-back assaults and breakaways, the place Menten’s teammate Victor Campenaerts was among the many most energetic and aggressive within the pack.
Menten made his ultimate dash on the shallow climb of the ultimate kilometre, edging out Hofsetter and Theuns after the lowered peloton pulled again a last-minute assault led by Trek-Segafredo.
Among the many main race favourites was Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-Quickstep) who suffered two crashes by means of the race, which took him out of rivalry for the end and disarmed Soudal-Quickstep’s lead-out ambitions.
“It’s like a dream, I don’t consider it,” Menten mentioned following the race. “It’s completely unbelievable.
“We had a plan to make it a really arduous race and that actually fits me,” he mentioned. “It was best with Victor [Campenaerts] and Jaarne [van der Paar] on the entrance and I might simply chill out on the again. It was about ready and ready.”
“A end like that is good for me as a result of it climbs a little bit bit after a extremely arduous race. The group has given me confidence and that does so much for me. It’s my first win for my new group Lotto-Dstny, and like a dream.”
Seemingly affected by the chilly climate situations, second-place Hofstetter mentioned, “I’m chilly, I took my gloves off, I simply couldn’t really feel something.”
“It’s like it’s, the knife has two edges and I had numerous unhealthy luck.”
The way it unfolded
It was a sunny day in Quaregnon when the peloton set off north to start the 208km circuit within the Wallonian countryside, however in a bitter chilly which noticed a lot of the riders layered in lengthy sleeves all through the stage, and bemoaned by riders after the race end.
The route was virtually indistinguishable from the 2022 circuit, taking in 5 cobbled sectors, two of which – Côte de la Roquette and Côte des Nonettes – additionally inflicted quick sharp climbs.
An early crash noticed robust race favorite Fabio Jakobsen hit the bottom, however he was fast to remount and proceed in the primary peloton, albeit with some seen scratches.
A breakaway of seven riders moved away from the primary peloton 60km into the race. The break contained Philippe Jacob (Ecoflo Chronos), Mads Østergaard Kristensen (Leopard TOGT Professional Biking), Gilles De Wilde (Flanders – Baloise), Tord Gudmestad (Uno-X Professional Biking), Lenaic Langella (Ecoflo Chronos), Kamil Małecki (Q36.5 Professional Biking) and Stanisław Aniołkowski (Human Powered Well being).
The main group was allowed to construct a spot of over 5 minutes on the primary group at its peak. Langella was dropped by the main group earlier than Mads Østergaard additionally discovered himself left behind following a mechanical with 80km remaining.
In the primary group, Soudal-Quickstep positioned Jakobsen rigorously forward of the back-to-back Côte de la Roquette and Chemin de Wihéries cobbled sectors, and the sprinters’ groups started to dramatically improve the tempo because the peloton approached the 60km mark.
The peloton swallowed up the breakaway with 57km remaining, as assaults started to spark – with Jasper Stuyven of Trek-Segafredo and Victor Campenaerts of Lotto-Dstny inserting persistent efforts.
Misfortune struck Fabio Jakobsen once more when he crashed at 45km to go, with broadcasters displaying him mendacity in a residential hedge on the roadside – he approached the medical automotive earlier than resuming his trip, however minutes in arrears and unable to contest the end.
Côte de la Roquette and Chemin de Wihéries double at 40km remaining, the place a gaggle of round 20 riders broke clear. Because the group bridged again the break was caught, however the peloton grew to become notably fractured, with a break up by led by Lotto-Dstny rising with 35km to go.
The hole grew to the one-minute mark at 25km remaining, because it appeared more and more probably the race winner can be from this main group as the sphere entered the ultimate lap.
Because the lead group took on Rue de Vert Pignon with 20km remaining, an assault got here from Victor Campenaerts which led to a break of six riders containing Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Stan Dewulf (AG2R Citroën), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Jaarne van der Paar (Lotto-Dstny), Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa Samsic) and Campenaerts.
The breakaway pulled out round 20 seconds using into the 15km mark, whereas an initially orderly chase from Soudal-Quickstep and Arkea-Samsic appeared to lose all focus, permitting the breakaway to maintain distance with 10km to go – getting into Côte des Nonnettes with a 16-second benefit.
Nonetheless, as Group DSM lastly mounted an aggressive chase, aided by Group Flanders-Baloise, the breakaway’s lead grew to become vanishingly small, earlier than the break was lastly absorbed with solely 4km remaining. Resulting in a ultimate transient assault from Trek-Segafredo riders earlier than a dash end from the lowered peloton.
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