Image 1 of 7
Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) put his new European Champion’s jersey on prime show on Friday, profitable the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen forward of Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Merlier and Philipsen needed to scramble again to the lead of the race after a crash cut up the peloton with 10km to go, however made it again with loads of time to get into place on Philipsen’s wheel.
Philipsen began the dash early right into a slight right-hand bend, attempting to make use of the within line to realize a bonus, however Merlier was too robust and was in a position to come across the great distance and nonetheless snatch the victory. De Kleijn powered previous the fading Philipsen to nab second place.
The 180.2 kilometre race round Koolskamp began underneath sunny skies with a battle for the breakaway, with three riders, Fabio Christen (Q36.5), Alex Colman (Flanders Baloise), Sam Gademan (Volkerwessels), incomes the early TV time.
Gademan misplaced contact in a bit of crosswinds with 55km to go that additionally knocked Caleb Ewan out of rivalry and briefly distanced Philipsen, however the race got here again collectively behind the 2 remaining leaders amid a sequence of turns and slim roads.
After the main duo’s hole hovered at simply over three minutes for a lot of the day, it was coming down shortly when Philipsen punctured and stopped in a flip with 37km to go.
With Alpecin-Deceuninck taking their ft off the gasoline, the benefit went again out till Philipsen was again in and his group obtained again to work reeling within the escapees along with Soudal-Quickstep, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek.
The breakaway’s lead steadily dropped till the ultimate lap, when Christen surged leaving Colman behind with 14km to go. The Swiss rider’s lead was hovering at 30 seconds when a crash very near the entrance of the peloton on a slim stretch of street disrupted the chase. Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was the worst off, however Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) was caught out, too.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe nonetheless had Jordi Meeus within the lead cut up as they hit the crosswinds with 9.5km to go and drove the tempo as new European champion Tim Merlier (Soulda-Quickstep) was left behind in a chasing group.
Christen continued to energy on till he was caught by the primary cut up inside 7km to go, however the peloton behind started to re-form. With 4.5km to go, the second peloton caught the primary.
Philipsen opened up the dash however Merlier was in a position to come across the prime within the slight right-hand bend to say his first victory within the European Champion’s jersey.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling