Greipel wins Brussels Cycling Classic

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Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) repeated his win in the Brussels Cycling Classic, easily winning the mass sprint ahead of Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr).

Teams NetApp-Endura and FDJ led the way in the last few kilometers, but they were unable to stop Greipel from taking his 14th season win.

"The race was pretty relaxed and I felt fine," Greipel said. "At the end we made it hard with Lars Bak who attacked. The team performed well. The guys put me in the front with about twenty kilometers to go. With Marcel Sieberg and Tony Gallopin I had two riders to set me up for the sprint. We had talked how to handle it, because there was headwind from 1500 up to 700 meters to go. It would be best if we came from the back, to have shelter."

A group of six dominated much of the race: Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Antonio Parrinello (Androni Giacattoli), Clement Koretzky (Bretagne-Seche), Matteo Rabottini (Neri Sottoli), Jan Gyselinck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), and Tom Derniers (Wallonne-Bruxelles). They made a determined effort and had a lead of up to nearly six minutes. But they were caught some 60km to go, and further escape attempts were unsuccessful.

With 42km to go, Kenneth Van Bilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen) jumped, followed by Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol), Bjorn Thurau (Europcar) and Jasper De Buyst (Topsport Vlaanderen). They never had much of a lead, and with 30km to go, Bak was alone in front.

But he too was caught only nine kilometers later, and further attempts were failed as well, setting up the expected mass sprint.

"It worked out really well," Greipel added. "I was happy that Tony made such a good lead-out and I could finish it off. It's great to win this race for the second year in a row. This victory is good for the confidence."

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