Our riders showed their character again on the Flemish cobbles and bergs.
Soudal Quick-Step put in a strong display at the 80th edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen, the first World Tour race of the month, going on the attack, being involved in many of the day’s main moves and pulling hard in the finale for a bunch sprint with Paul Magnier.
The Frenchman was one of the 20-odd riders present in the first group that went clear after 70 kilometers, putting the pressure on the peloton, who eventually came back and kept together, but only for a brief moment. Other men made a move, taking advantage of the many hills that came one after the other, and split the bunch. Soudal Quick-Step did an excellent job, chasing the attackers and reabsorbing them before the last 50 kilometers.
When three riders surged away and managed to open what looked to be a 40-second winning buffer, it was Dylan van Baarle, who hit the front of the peloton, producing a huge effort to reduce the gap that separated them to just 12 seconds ahead of the day’s last hill. The finale was a nail-biting one, with the bunch having in sight the lone leader of the race as they entered the closing kilometers.
An attack of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) saw him get a gap before making the catch. With one final effort, Pepijn Reinderink and Dries van Gestel reduced the distance, but Ganna managed to hold off the chasers for just a second and take the win in Waregem.
Paul Magnier was our team’s best placed rider from the group that sprinted behind the Italian and said afterwards: “It was a super hard race. I tried to get away with a strong group but we did not work together to stay clear. The team tried to control the race from there for as long as possible with Dylan and Pepijn, and in the end Dries tried to put me in the right place to compete for the sprint. They did a super good job and I want to thank them for that; the result is not there yet but if we continue to ride like we did, then the results will come.”
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
