The Belgian one-day race came down to a reduced uphill sprint.
The 80th edition of Nokere Koerse was scheduled Wednesday, and Soudal Quick-Step was one of the 22 squads at the start of this race whose course featured a nice combination of short climbs and cobblestones.
Our team tried to animate the race on several occasions, Gil Gelders being one of the most prominent riders as attacked hoping to open a gap, but the peloton reacted each time and kept things together behind the original breakaway. Eventually, one rider went clear inside 15 kilometers to go and arrived under the flamme rouge with almost 20 seconds in hand.
Yves Lampaert was one of the riders who pulled hard as soon as the road tilted upwards, reducing the leader’s gap by a couple of seconds in a flash and bringing the peloton closer to him, despite the strong headwind. The catch was made just after a crash split the peloton, with 100 meters to go, and Alberto Dainese was there, ready to fight for a good result, but unfortunately for the Italian, we had to break after being boxed in and lost any chance of a top ten finish.
The same Soudal Quick-Step riders will be in action two days from now at Bredene Koksijde Classic, the second Belgian one-day race of the week.
Photo credit: ©Rhode Van Elsen / Getty Images
