Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) sped to the win at the Antwerp Port Epic-Sels Trophy, scoring his second victory of the season and 90th of his career in a sprint finish at the end of the 177.9km race.
The Norwegian veteran beat out Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies), Oded Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech Academy) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) to the line in a fight between the fast finishers of the peloton.
The pair were chased by a trio including Corné van Kessel (Deschacht-Group Hens-Containers Maes), Stijn Appel (Beat Cycling Club) and Coen Vermeltfoort (VolkerWessels Cycling Team).
A new breakaway of two emerged that included Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Pier-André Côté (Israel Premier Tech Academy) but they only managed to gain a slim 20 seconds ahead of a field led by Lotto Dstny.
A chase group formed over the cobbles that included Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Arnaud De Lie and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) and Pim Ronhaar (Baloise-Trek Lions) inside 25km to go.
Hollmann attacked to go solo with 15km to go, as Pier-André Côté was absorbed into the chase group behind.
Hollman held just 10 seconds with 3km to go, but his advantage would only wane as he raced closer to the finish line. In the end, he wouldn't make the flamme rouge, instead being back 500 metres earlier.
A counterattack from Julien Vermote (Visma-Lease A Bike) late on couldn't disrupt the sprint squads, and so the promised mass sprint finish came to pass, with Kristoff coming out on top as the fastest man at the line.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
-
La Vuelta Femenina abandons – 102 riders finish the race atop the Alto de L'Angliru
Tracking the riders who have dropped out of the first Grand Tour of the season -
'In the end, I just came up short' – Anna van der Breggen loses La Vuelta Femenina in final 4km on 'frustrating' Angliru
Disappointment but also satisfaction at SD Worx-Protime, who won three stages, a podium spot, the points jersey, and the team prize -
'The most important thing is that the guys manage to recover' – UAE Team Emirates-XRG rue tough day at Giro d'Italia as five riders crash
Jay Vine and Marc Soler abandon after bad mass crash on stage 2 as a visibly bloodied Adam Yates loses nearly 14 minutes -
'They crashed just in front of me, it was pretty close' – Jonas Vingegaard says attacking Giro d'Italia stage 2 finale was 'safest' option after narrowly avoiding mass pile-up
'I just hope everyone is OK. I don't like crashes like this. I'm really thinking about everyone who crashed' says Dane after chaotic finish
