The Heistse Pijl turned out to be a bunch sprint this year. Sasha Weemaes of Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise was the first to cross the line of the peloton. Thanks to the front work of his team during the last lap, the escapees were jailed 2 km before the finish.
The leading group of 20 riders including Sep Vanmarcke, Jelle Wallays and Tosh Van der Sande could count on a lead of 50 seconds at the start of the final lap. Vanmarcke accelerated on the Heistse Berg, but did not break any pots with this.
At the front it started to turn around a bit more difficult at 10 km from the end. In the peloton, Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise and a few other teams saw their chance. They made up for a lot of seconds in a short time.
The merger followed a few kilometers before the end, but Jelle Wallays did not give up yet. The Lotto-Soudal man was able to hit a gap, but the sprint trains in the background swallowed him up not long afterwards.
In the bunch sprint, 22-year-old Sasha Weemaes had the fastest legs. He beat fellow countrymen Gerben Thijssen and Samuel Leroux just behind him and succeeds Alvaro Hodeg as the winner.
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