Soudal Quick-Step on the podium at one of the most important races of the weekend.
Fabio Van den Bossche took his best result since joining Soudal Quick-Step - third at the Belgian National Championships, which came down to a three-man sprint after the breakaway managed to open an insurmountable gap on a peloton who was aiming for a mass gallop on Sunday.
The longest edition of the last nine years - and also, one of the fastest in history - took place on Sunday, when the peloton got underway from Antwerp, the start of this year’s Ronde van Vlaanderen and continued on familiar roads for almost 140 kilometers, before entering the Brasschaat circuit, which they had to cover three times. On paper, it was a course designated for the fast men, but the presence of almost 30 riders in what became the main move of the day ended up changing the script.
Soudal Quick-Step had five riders in the large group, and made sure of being represented by at least one man every time a move tried to go clear. As the breakaway got gradually reduced, our team remained prominent, to the point it had three riders in a ten-man group. Around 20 kilometers from the finish, more attacks came and Fabio Van den Bossche quickly joined this move which turned out to be the winning one. While Gil Gelders was shutting down the chasers’ attempts to claw back time, Fabio was working at the front with his companions to increase their gap, which reached 50 seconds with two kilometers to go.
It became clear the new Belgian Champion would come from there, and Van den Bossche did his best in the nail-biting finish in Brasschaat, where he could still show a strong turn of legs - despite being boxed in - after almost five hours of full gas racing to take bronze for his best result in six participations at the National Championships.
A National Championship is always a strange race, as you can never predict what will happen.
“Our team did a great job today and reacted well to every attack, and once we knew a sprint with Tim would be impossible, we tried to make a selection. When it happened, it was just us three, and in the finale I tried to take Jonas’ wheel, but I was boxed in, unfortunately. I realize this was the best chance of my life to take the jersey, but despite the obvious disappointment, I’m proud to get a medal”, an emotional Fabio said at the finish.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
