Victor Campenaerts sprints to victory in the Vlaamse Druivenkoers
Celebration for Lotto Dstny in Overijse. Victor Campenaerts defeats Rasmus Tiller in a two-man sprint. Teammate Jasper De Buyst won the battle for third place and joined them on the podium.
At 12:30, the starting shot of the 63th edition of the Vlaamse Druivenkoers rang out. The peloton explored the local lap on the first passage in compact formation. On the second climb of Stroobantsstraat, a group of 5 managed to get away: Christensen (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), Hecht (Human Powered Health), Ledegen (Baloise Trek Lions), Goeman (Materiel-velo.com) and Stockman (TDT-Unibet). The peloton had already nullified an earlier attempt, but let this five go.
One who wanted to make the crossing to the leading group was Jelle Wallays (Cofidis). The Belgian rider tried to make it on his own, but was denied the freedom to do so by the peloton. A little later, the efforts of Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and Karl Patrick Lauk (Bingoal WB) proved successful, giving us seven leaders. However, the breakaway group was unable to establish a big lead. The peloton never allowed the seven riders to gain more than a minute and a half.
On the first ascent of the Horenberg - a newcomer to the Druivenkoers - the story of the early escape was over. The peloton broke up into several groups. Up front, around twenty riders managed to stay together. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), who had missed the sifting on the Horenberg, did not simply resign himself to the situation. The Belgian rider accelerated on Taymansstraat and rode to the head of the race with a few others in his wake.
The next acceleration came from Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), but the Norwegian could not drop his rivals on the Smeysberg. Entering the last lap, four riders succeeded in creating a gap: team-mates Dries De Bondt and Lionel Taminiaux (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Dstny) and Irishman Rory Townsend (Bolton Equities Black Spoke). Their attempt too did not carry them to the finish.
On the last round, Victor Campenaerts and Rasmus Tiller again really when for it. The two built up a lead of about 35 seconds and should sprint for the victory. Tiller went first, but Campenaerts passed the Norwegian smoothly. Ten seconds later, Jasper De Buyst won the sprint in the chasing group.
