With Jelle Wallays and Tosh Van der Sande, Lotto-Soudal had 2 riders in the front. Nevertheless, the signal sounded from the support car to his men to chase the leading group. At 50 km from the finish, it was clear that the gap could no longer be closed and the team pulled over.
“The Belgian championship is always a strange race”, Philippe Gilbert responded afterwards. “It was no different today and I never really knew it any other way.”
“Most teams had a man in the attack. We too. With Van der Sande and Wallays we even had guys who had a chance to win the title.”
Still, Lotto went hunting for its own team mates. “We wanted to get a little closer to the leading group,” said Gilbert. “And maybe sneak forward from the background.”
“We didn’t really succeed. We got stuck at just over 1 minute. Then all of a sudden the individuals came up, like Jasper Stuyven, Greg Van Avermaet, myself and you name it. Dylan Teuns was also with us. I compare how from then on it went a bit with a junior race. It was quite fun in itself, but also tiring. I revived my condition here, because today they raced very hard again. “
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Sep Vanmarcke was fiercely cheered by the fans who had posted themselves along the course. He also drove past his own home, wife and children. He eventually finished 57th at 1’45 “from Belgian champion Dries De Bondt.
“This BK was a very strange race”, Vanmarcke said afterwards. “Since Jens Keukeleire and myself only started with two at EF Pro Cycling, we had to race very attentively all day and jump along to catch an early break.”
“And then you suddenly find yourself in a situation where a large group separates itself, but each team had a man in it. In the peloton they kept looking at each other until the lead at a given moment was 5 minutes.
Lotto-Soudal then increased the pace in the peloton. “In the beginning it was very intense until they blew themselves up just as quickly”, says Vanmarcke. “Why had they let the gap get so big first?”
“Actually, the whole race was full of strange actions. Deceuninck-Quick Step also started to chase at the end. I don’t want to blame anyone. I was not there myself. I also marched, because otherwise the race would have been completely over. I wanted to show something. We were actually in a lost position quite quickly. “
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