Our squad was again very active at the Belgian one-day race.
Rain and climbs, eighteen of them, were the main ingredients of the Primus Classic – which our team won last year with Florian Sénéchal – slowly, but surely thinning out the peloton, who was controlled by those holding hope the race would come down to a bunch sprint.
Other riders had different plans, and among those who tried their luck were Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s Stan Van Tricht and Iland Van Wilder. Our neo-pro forged clear, drawing a couple of other men, in pursuit of the original breakaway, but was caught with 40 kilometers to go, while Ilan – who only last week concluded a fantastic La Vuelta, where he helped Remco Evenepoel capture the overall title – was part of a brave move that tried to hold off the peloton inside the last 20 kilometers.
Once the catch was made, our team regrouped at the front and pulled for Stan, but a crash outside the flamme rouge arch blocked the Belgian and split the field, leaving only a dozen riders to fight for victory, which was nailed on the line by Jordi Meeus (Bora-hansgrohe). Around one minute later, fortunately without any injuries, Van Tricht came home as the team’s best placed rider.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
