An impressive 1-3 on home soil for our feeder team.
Leander Van Hautegem made it back-to-back wins for the Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team at the Course de côte Herbeumont, the hilly one-day race held in the Wallon region of Belgium. Comprising more than a dozen climbs, the event took place Wednesday afternoon and saw Leander emerge victorious from a small group that formed 40 kilometers from the finish.
The 21-year-old was the main animator of the race, attacking early and remaining there despite the situation constantly changing at the front. Van Hautegem, who in the beginning of the season rode a couple of races with the World Tour team, got dropped a couple of kilometers from the finish, but showed an incredible determination and fighting spirit to come back and take the victory in Herbeumont, where he was joined on the podium by his teammate Lars Vanden Heede.
“I didn’t have a good feeling today to be honest, so I decided to anticipate a bit because otherwise I knew I would have been dropped. When I attacked, another guy joined me and we rode for 25 kilometers at the front, while the bunch split behind. A couple of riders came across and in the final 40 kilometers we were five riders in the lead.”
“I had Lars with me and that was of great help. On the penultimate lap I attacked just as the road went up, opened a gap of 15-20 seconds and kept going. Then they caught me on the last lap, I got distanced a bit, but fought hard to come back and try my chance the sprint. I was really confident because I am quite fast from a small group and did my best there. I am happy with this victory, it’s my first one of the year and it feels great”, Leander said after signing off Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team’s ninth success since the beginning of the season.
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
