It wasn't just in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday that the bunch were surprised by a late four-rider attack that left the sprinters grinding their teeth in anger. A couple of thousand kilometres further north, in the 1.1-ranked Grand Prix Criquielion, 21-year-old pro Alessandro Borgo (Bahrain Victorious) claimed the victory despite all the peloton's best efforts to catch him.
Just five seconds separated Borgo from the peloton at the end of the tough 205-kilometre race, claiming the win ahead of Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5), Pierre Thierry (TotalEnergies) and Gabriele Bessega (Polti-VisitMalta).
Raced over five laps of a circuit featuring the Côte du Mond (2 km à 2.3%), the much harder Côte de Hurdumont (0.7 km à 6.6%) and a cobbled half kilometre section of la Rue la Blanche (0.5 km), the Belgian one-day Classic saw Gerben Kuypers (Pauwels Sauzen - Altez Industriebouw), Max van der Meulen (BahrainVictorious), Morten Aalling Noertoft (ColoQuick) et Sebastian Kolze Changizi (Tudor) form the break of the day. This after more than 100 kilometres had come and gone, though, as the peloton rattled along at an average speed of 42.5kmh but without any sign of a breakaway.
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Finally 15 kilometres from the finish, just before the last ascent of the Hurdumont, the four components of the winning breakaway went clear. Borgo took a clear win ahead of Wright, with Merlier claiming the fifth spot and first in the bunch behind the break.
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