Naesen claims Belgian road race title

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Oliver Naesen (AG2R) is the new Belgian champion. The 26 year-old won the sprint from a five-man group in Antwerp. Naesen jumped his front wheel in the air and narrowly beat Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac) to the line. Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) was third ahead of Jens Keukeleire (Orica-Scott) and Nathan Van Hooydonck (BMC).

"It's unbelievable. This was the piece of the puzzle that I was waiting for since the spring; it finally all came together. I squeezed out the last bit of energy that was in me during that sprint," Naesen said in the post-race flash interview.

The race started on the same location as the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the historical main square of Antwerp. Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) was the defending champion. After a neutralized start, the riders reached the 17 kilometres long circuit which they had to cover fourteen times, totalling 238 kilometres. The course was completely flat though 1500 metres of cobbles spiced up the challenge at the backend of the course.

Early on, Lotto-Soudal was in a comfortable position. They had Jürgen Roelandts in the breakaway group, allowing them to save all other riders. Roelandts had to work hard as he was only joined by Jonas Rickaert (Sport Vlaanderen) and Kevyn Ista (WB-Veranclassic-Aqua Protect). After six laps of racing the trio enjoyed their maximum lead of 7:30 on the peloton. From there, Tim Declercq (Quick-Step Floors) and Ben Hermans (BMC) joined forces to bring back their deficit.

At 57 kilometres from the finish the trio was caught back. Straight away, the attacks were flying around to create a new race situation. A move with Jelle Wallays (Lotto-Soudal), Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors), Quinten Hermans (Telenet-Fidea Lions), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Tom Van Asbroeck (Cannondale-Scott) was neutralized by the BMC-team. Several solo attempts followed, including a massive move from Philippe Gilbert at forty kilometres from the finish. When hitting the penultimate lap, everybody was still together.

Then, Jens Keukeleire made a move. He was joined by 2015 champion Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise) and a few others. A second group joined up, creating a group of fourteen riders. The second group featured big names, including among others Oliver Naesen, Sep Vanmarcke, Jasper Stuyven, Tim Merlier (Willems Veranda's-Crelan), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Nathan Van Hooydonck and Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors). Suddenly, the peloton was a minute down on the leaders and their race was over. On the cobbles, Naesen accelerated and only Jasper Stuyven, Sep Vanmarcke, Nathan Van Hooydonck and Keukeleire were able to keep up. The Belgian teams were missing out in front.

During the final lap, the five worked well together, keeping the chasers and peloton at distance. On the final passages over the cobbles, Vanmarcke attacked twice but without success. A tired Van Hooydonck led out the sprint ahead of Naesen, Keukeleire, Stuyven and Vanmarcke. Vanmarcke started the sprint from far out, surprising the others. Naesen had the best reaction and waited until the final metres to pass Vanmarcke, throwing his front wheel over the line.

Naesen was massively excited, throwing his sunglasses and helmet in the crowd while celebrating the biggest win of his career. "I felt like I was the strongest rider in the group but then there were three really strong riders. Jens and Jasper are usually faster than me but after such a long, hard race, anything is possible; I was confident about that. Sep started from far out and had a good gap. He did what I did in E3 Harelbeke, while I did what Greg did. I was in the slipstream and came over him on the line. Hopefully this is my breakthrough victory. I knew I was ready for it," Naesen said.

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