The 22-year-old became the first non-European rider to win the one-day race created in 1947.
Alvaro Hodeg blasted to his third victory of the season – following the stage wins picked up at the Tour Colombia and Tour of Norway – at the end of Saturday’s 196.4km-long Heistse Pijl, netting our team’s first win since 2014 at the Belgian event, which was run between Turnhout and Heist op den Berg.
The fairly flat course of the 49th edition, containing just a few hiccups on the local circuit which the peloton covered several times, was animated by a six-men breakaway who took off from the gun and carved out a seven-minute advantage that Deceuninck – Quick-Step controlled and trimmed to under three minutes by the time they entered the first lap.
A high pace in the bunch and several frictions split the peloton inside the final 30 kilometers of the race, when twenty men – including a strong delegation of the Wolfpack – made the selection, infiltrating in the main group sitting some 40 seconds behind the survivors of the breakaway. For a moment, it looked like the move would stick, but a regrouping took place 15 kilometers from the finish and the bunch set off in pursuit of the riders up the road, who got caught only under the flamme rouge arch.
Brought into position by Davide Martinelli, Hodeg waited for the others to hit first and measured his sprint perfectly, kicking out with 150 meters to go and bursting clear of the rest of the favourites for a comfortable win over Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) and Rory Townsend (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes).
“The team was fantastic and took responsibility right from the start. We knew we had to do this, so we pulled hard behind that dangerous breakaway and even upped the tempo on the local laps, splitting the field. I was there with two of our guys, who made sure of protecting me, and played my cards right even after it all came back together. In the end, all I needed to do was open my sprint and take this nice victory, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help of these amazing guys”, said Alvaro, the youngest rider this century to triumph at Heistse Pijl.
Photo credit: ©Peter De Voecht/ PhotoNews
