Soudal Quick-Step’s 25-year-old took the victory on Saturday, becoming the first rider since Iljo Keisse, in 2017, to become a double winner of the Belgian one-day race.
The course of Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde, consisting of 14 laps of a 12km circuit, was flat but technical, as each lap comprised 16 corners. It was a perfect parcours for those willing to make a move and go all-out in order to prevent the race from coming down to a reduced bunch sprint, and Warre was among the first attackers of the day, making a move as early as the first lap.
Motivated by the fact he was in the city he grew up in and where he lived until the age of 23, Warre left everything out there, taking some incredibly long pulls in the group and helping them extend their advantage to more than a minute, a gap that proved out to be decisive in the end. On the penultimate lap, the powerful Belgian rode clear together with two other men, and in the closing 200 meters he outsprinted them to add his name to the Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde roll of honor for a second time in his career.
It feels amazing to win again after such a long time!
“The race was full gas from the start, which didn’t come as a surprise. The group I was part of was really strong and we worked well, holding off the chasers. Then, when the attacks came in the finale, I went away together with Hector Alvarez and Michiel Lambrecht, and we arrived like that on the finishing straight. I had a lot of confidence in my sprint, as I knew what I was capable of, and I’m incredibly happy to win again after all the setbacks I had in the past two years. It gives me great joy that I could show again what I’m capable of”, Warre said before the podium ceremony.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
