The 25-year-old notched his best result of the season in the 171-km long one-day race.
As expected, this season's Gullegem Koerse was another action-packed and spectacular affair, delivering yet again a thrilling finale, which saw Yves Lampaert finish runner-up after being part of the day-long breakaway. The Etixx – Quick-Step rider, 9th last Sunday at the Belgium Tour, where teammate Stijn Vandenbergh came third, proved his good condition by making it into the escape together with two other countrymen: Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal).
Just 11 kilometers after the flag was dropped, the trio attacked and opened a maximum gap which didn't exceed 2:30. Despite the advantage looking to be a fragile one and the sprinters' teams making their way to the forefront inside the last 50 kilometers, the lead proved to be enough in the end. Yves, who was runner-up in Gullegem Koerse also three years ago, brought his contribution to the successful attempt of the escapees, by taking some long and strong pulls on the 9.5-km long circuit which the riders covered 18 times.
In the final 10 kilometers, the bunch cut the gap to just 55 seconds, but the riders at the front managed to make it to the line, where Yves Lampaert finished second, behind Van Avermaet, but ahead of Van der Sande. For the 24-year-old rider of Etixx – Quick-Step, this was the best result of the season: "I was happy to start in Gullegem, as I like this race. It's a special atmosphere here and the fans who cheer for us are fantastic. When Van Avermaet tried to make a break I jumped immediately on his wheel. Tosh joined us and we really worked well together. We always had about two minutes on the peloton, but in the last lap the peloton made up some ground. In the last meters, Greg opened his sprint pretty early and I just couldn't close the gap. Still, I'm happy with my result, as it gives me a lot of confidence for the next races."
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
