Dutchman makes it eleven Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team wins this year.
The seventh edition of the Belgian race started out with a bang for the Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team, who took the laurels in Hellenthal, where the opening stage concluded, with Pepijn Reinderink.
Fourth last Sunday at GP Vermarc, where he played an important role in Stan Van Tricht’s victory, Pepijn joined a strong five-man breakaway – where he had teammate Leander Van Hautegem for company – about two hours into the race. The quintet enjoyed a solid lead over the chasing peloton, and even though a good chunk of it was cut in the last kilometers, when the group was reduced to three riders, they managed to hold off the group.
“It took one hour for a breakaway to form, and when it did, we had Leander there. Some 30 kilometers later, after a climb, I bridged across, and even though the bunch closed in, we began riding a bigger pace on the local laps. Leander did a superb job for me on the penultimate lap to keep the gap big enough, and then I finished it off in a reduced sprint. I am grateful for the team’s work and happy to have this yellow jersey, which we will try to defend”, a beaming Pepijn said.
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
