Our team went on the attack at Saturday’s 178.4km event.
This year’s edition of Dwars door het Hageland was a fast and action-packed one, comprising almost twenty sections of cobbles and gravel roads which spiced up the race. It came as no surprise that a breakaway tried to take advantage of the course and put as much pressure as possible on the peloton, Warre Vangheluwe being one of the five riders who booked a place in the move.
The young Belgian, victorious last month in a Quatre Jours de Dunkerque stage where he managed to hold off the entire peloton from the break, did some long and impressive turns at the front, helping the group remain clear until 80 kilometers to go, when the bunch came back. The group soon split and many riders didn’t come back anymore. Unfortunately, Kasper Asgreen, Josef Cerny and Warre were among these, because of untimely punctures that took them out of the fight for a good result.
The various groups kept splitting, leaving only a few riders at the front and kickstarting a fierce chase from those who missed the move. The leading trio eventually made it for a couple of seconds and Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), while Martin Svrcek concluded as the best placed Soudal Quick-Step rider.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
Martin Svrček 
Warre Vangheluwe 