Anders Foldager (Jayco-AlUla) bided his time, making the most of the uphill finish on the S-Bocht Overijse, and took a reduced sprint victory at De Brabantse Pijl-La Flèche Brabançonne.
The Danish rider was part of a small field that reached the base of the climb; the group caught late-race attacker Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) just before the final dash to the line.
Eduard Prades (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) was the first to surge, but as he faded, Foldager came off his wheel and stole the victory ahead of Quinten Hermans (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) in second, Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in third, and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) in fourth place.
Prades held on for fifth place on the day.
Asked if he surprised himself with the victory today, Foldager said, "Yes and no. I knew this was the perfect race for me. It is by far the biggest win, so yeah, I surprised myself. It is a punchy, hard [race], not too long and then an uphill finish was quite good."
Of the final sprint, he added, "I was a little too far back at the bottom of the climb. Mauro Schmid did the perfect run-in closing the breakaway. I had to go long because they opened it up from the bottom of the climb. As soon as I hit the front there was nothing to do but put my head down and sprint.
Article continues below"It means a lot. It's by far my biggest victory and proves to the team and myself that I have the level to be at the top of these races, like I hoped I could."
How it unfolded
The elite men began what is known as the warm-up to the Ardennes Classics at De Brabantse Pijl, a 162.6km race between Beersel and Overijse.
The route was a true test of what is to come with relentless climbing over into the later stages of the race that included multiple finishing circuits with trips over the S-Bocht, Hertstraat, Moskesstraat and Holstheide before the finish on the S-Bocht Overijse.
An early breakaway emerged with Vojtěch Kmínek (Burgos Burpellet BH), Cedrik Bakke Christophersen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Fabrice Lefevre and Jonah Killy (both Tarteletto-Isorex), and Michiel Coppens and Bram Dissel (both BEAT CC p/b Saxo).
The six riders stretched their lead out to more than three minutes in the first 35km of the race. However, as they approached the mid-way point, the gap was slashed in half to 1:48.
Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) and Stefano Oldani (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) took advantage of the smaller gap and tried to bridge across to the breakaway as the race hit the first series of climbs over the Holstheide and S-Bocht Overijse.
The breakaway split apart over the Holstheide with 50km remaining, but all six riders were caught by the peloton as the race stretched out toward the second trip up the S-Bocht Overijse.
Fran Miholjević (Bahrain-Victorious) and Sam Maisonobe (Cofidis) were the next to clear the field, but their efforts were short-lived, and the peloton was intact with 40km (two laps) to go.
A crash with 31km to go through a right-hand corner saw several riders go down, while up ahead Grégoire surged into the base of the Moskesstraat.
Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Cosnefroy joined Grégoire, and the trio opened a 20-second margin over the Holstheide.
Three chasers, Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) and Milan Lanhove (Team Flanders-Baloise) later bridged across, and the six raced into the S-Bocht Overijse for the last lap of racing.
Jelle Johannink (Unibet Rose Rockets) surged on the climb to join the breakaway, but the seven riders only had 10 seconds on the reduced peloton.
Johannink was the first rider distanced from the breakaway over the Moskesstraat and caught by the field. The six continued with 22 seconds in hand at the base of the Holstheide. However, that gap was slashed to just seven seconds until they were caught at the base of the final climb, S-Bocht Overijse.
Alpecin-Premier Tech led the peloton into the final kilometre. Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) surged with 800 metres to go, but was caught by the field, led by Uno-X Mobility, inside 300 metres from the line.
Prades took advantage of the catch and launched his sprint first, but faded in the closing metres and was overtaken at the line.
Results
Pos. | Rider (Team) | Time |
|---|---|---|
1 | Anders Foldager (Team Jayco-AlUla) | 3:36:30 |
2 | Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) | + 00 |
3 | Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) | + 00 |
4 | Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) | + 00 |
5 | Eduard Prades (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | + 00 |
6 | Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) | + 00 |
7 | Luca Van Boven (Lotto-Intermarché) | + 00 |
8 | Fernando Barceló (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | + 00 |
9 | Brady Gilmore (NSN Cycling Team) | + 00 |
10 | Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | + 00 |
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