In a tremendous turn of speed, Hendrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility) surged from the back of a 14-rider break to win the Flandrien 0.0 Classic on Saturday.
Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took second, and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was third in a chaotic finale.
In a technical finale, the breakaway sped towards the finish line, spread across the road, as the peloton was 15 seconds behind. Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Intermarché) was the first rider to open up his sprint early, but Hendrik Pedersen, the 21-year-old Dane, was able to overtake all to claim his first professional victory.
The winning breakaway formed with 75 kilometres to go, after the early move was reeled in, and included Pedersen, Pithie, Vermeersch, Berckmoes, Dries de Bondt (Jayco-Alula), Samuele Battistella and his EF Education-EasyPost teammate Luke Lamperti, Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Intermarché) and Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets).
Working well together, the group was able to stay away from a disorganised peloton.
"It feels amazing. Two races ago in Wallonie, I was like really disappointed about my performance, and was really like ‘I need to do this better. Then yesterday [at the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen], I was really feeling like I have good legs," Pedersen said.
"That was a really amazing feeling, after a big disappointment going back and taking my first victory."
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Boxed in, Pedersen was forced to move to the back of the group.
"I started to try to go on the left side and actually hit the barrier, and then now it's like ‘oh there is not a space here’, so I had to go the other way around, go all the way back on the right side," he said.
"So it was quite a tricky road, but, I knew I had some good speed and I felt really good legs like all the way from Moskesstraat that first time. So, I was really like feeling that I could do a good result today."
Classics style racing at the former Super 8
The 15th edition of the Flandrien 0.0 Classic, formerly known as Super 8 Classic, offered up a Belgian Classic-style course from Brakel to Boortmeerbeek/Haacht. The 199.4km route ran through East Flanders, Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, and Flemish Brabant, taking on 15 climbs, including several tough ascents with gradients of up to 20%. Well-known ascents such as the Moskesstraat, Smeysberg, and Holstheide were tackled twice.
Five riders made it into the early breakaway with Battistella, De Bondt, Kamil Malecki (Pinarello-Q36.5), Leander Van Hautegem (Baloise Lions) and Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto-Isorex) escaping.
After pushing their gap to 2:10, the quintet’s lead was down to 35 seconds with 79 kilometres to go. Four kilometres later, the race exploded on the steep climb as the peloton connected with the break. Attacks continued to fly off the front, with a big group pulling away.
The new lead group, of 17 riders, had 26 seconds as they approached the cobbled wall Moskesstraat with 68 km to go. Teams that missed the move made their way to the front of the peloton, but the gap increased up to 48 seconds as they tackled the Smeysberg for the first time.
With 57 kilometres to go, Lidl-Trek’s Thibau Nys initiated a large chase group to try and make it across to the lead group which included his teammate Tim Torn Teutenberg. But the lack of cooperation doomed the chase group, as they were reeled in with 39 kilometres to go.
Continuing to work well together, the break, down to 14 riders, held a 53-second lead with 20 kilometres to go as they crested Hulstbergstraat, the final climb of the day. TotalEnergies took over the pacemaking at the front of the peloton, bringing the gap down to 24 seconds inside of 10 kilometres to go.
The gap dwindled to eight seconds with 3.4 kilometres to go, with Groupama and Intermarché riders continuing to push the pace in the break. But the break held on and Pedersen claimed a memorable victory from it.
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Results
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time
1
Henrik Pedersen (Den) Uno-X Mobility
04:18:14
2
Laurence Pithie (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
Row 1 - Cell 2
3
Florian Vermeersch (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
Row 2 - Cell 2
4
Jenno Berckmoes (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché
Row 3 - Cell 2
5
Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) Lidl-Trek
Row 4 - Cell 2
6
Thibaud Gruel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United
Row 5 - Cell 2
7
Lukas Kubis (Svk) Unibet Rose Rockets
Row 6 - Cell 2
8
Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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