Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) powered to victory atop the Col du Horlitin to say victory within the Circuit Franco Belge.
The Eritrean performed off a late assault from teammate Lorenzo Rota, then patiently waited for his rivals to burn themselves out on the ultimate climb earlier than sprinting to the road in a wonderfully timed acceleration.
Axel Zingle (Cofidis) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) rounded out the rostrum in second and third, respectively.
How it unfolded
The 190.6km route was riddled with bergs, specifically within the second half of the race when riders needed to deal with a circuit that included the Col du Horlitin and Trieu-Knokteberg in addition to a 3rd climb that gave intermediate dash prizes on every of the 5 laps.
Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders-Baloise), Nathan Smith (Novo Nordisk), Maximilien Juillard (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Martijn Rasenberg (Parkhotel Valkenburg), and Theo Bonnet (Philippe Wagner/Bazin) made the early breakaway, constructing a lead of just about 5 minutes earlier than Intermarché and Alpecin-Deceuninck began to carry the hole down.
Rasenberg gained the primary three intermediate sprints, whereas Vercouille gained the primary two KOMs on the Col du Horlitin and Trieu-Knokteberg.
However, the hole was right down to a minute as they began the circuits and when the breakaway hit the Col du Horlitin with 68.9 km to go, their hole was plummeting quickly.
Bonnet surged on the climb, and solely Rasenberg may maintain his wheel, however their outing entrance got here to an finish a short while later. With 60.4km to go, the peloton was again collectively.
On the subsequent journey over the Knokteberg, the peloton stretched out, and gaps started to open. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) launched a transfer after the descent. He was joined by Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) and Jérémy Leveau (Van Rysel-Roubaix) to make a second assault.
However, Leveau could not dangle on within the subsequent climb. The duo forward constructed up a lead of just about a minute, however they have been again within the fold with 24.6km to go.
Sjoerd Bax (UAE Team Emirates), Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty), and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) escaped on the Knokteberg on the ultimate lap and held a 10-second lead heading towards the ultimate kilometre however needed to deal with the Col du Horlitin for the ultimate time to get to the end line.
Tiller stored going as his two companions sat up however was caught, and Girmay gained the dash to the road.
Results
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