Jakobsen wins Nokere Koerse

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Quick-Step Floors' Fabio Jakobsen won the 2018 Danilith Nokere Koerse Wednesday, taking the bunch sprint ahead of Amaury Capiot (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Hugo Hofstetter (Cofidis) after 191.1km of racing through Belgium.

Cyclo-cross world champion Wout Van Aert (Veranda’s Willems Crelan) drove the field toward the line in the final kilometre's as Quick-Step and the other sprinters' teams set up their trains for the finale.

The win was the Belgian team's third in a row in their home semi-Classics, after Niki Terpstra won in Le Samyn and Remi Cavagna at Dwars door West-Vlaanderen.

Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) was the last man caught from the day's early breakaway after dropping his companions Ivo Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon), Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy), Yannick Martinez (Deklo Marseille), Rob Ruijgh (Tarteletto-Isorex), Simon Sellier (Direct Energie), Timothy Stevens (Cibel-Cebon), and Martijn Budding (Roompot).

Martinez latched onto an elite chasing group innside the final 20km, with BMC's Nathan van Hooydonck and Loïc Vliegen, Florian Senechal and Pieter Serry from Quick-Step Floors, Pascal Ackerman (Bora-Hansgrohe), Baptiste Planckaert (Katusha-Alpecin), and Wout Van Aert, but the peloton came back together in the final 10km.

There were a few attacks that followed as Dunne was swept up and spat out, with a move from Edward Theuns (Sunweb) closely marked by the peloton, ensuring a bunch sprint, which Jakobsen won with a perfectly-timed acceleration.

"Our goal from the start of the race was to win, because we had many guys in the team capable of taking the victory. The course was harder this year, but that didn't stop up from shaping and controlling the race," Jakobsen said.

"The entire team did an amazing job today, Davide and Florian kept a high speed in the end, reeling in the late attackers, and I took the last corner on the inside, knowing this would increase my chances. On the last straight, I just gave everything and when I saw there wasn't anyone near me, I began celebrating. It's one of the best days of my life so far! I can't tell you how happy I am to get my first pro win and how much confidence it gives me for the next races."

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