Van Poppel wins Binche-Chimay-Binche

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Danny van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the 2018 Binche-Chimay-Binche, attacking on the short, cobbled climb in the finale of the Belgian one-day race to win solo.

The Dutchman was well set up by his teammates, who took full responsibility in chasing down a dangerous break that formed on the second of the four laps of a 16.2 finishing circuit in Binche. Zdenek Stybar had gone solo from that group on the final lap, and they clawed their way back to the Quick-Step Floors rider with one kilometre to go, just as the climb up Rue de Pepinière began.

It seemed LottoNL might be bringing star sprinter Dylan Groenewegen back into the equation, but he effectively led Van Poppel out on the incline. Such was the intensity of Van Poppel’s acceleration, he turned right over the top of the climb with a sufficient advantage to see him through the final few hundred metres.

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Yves Lampaert, who had seemingly given Quick-Step the tactical upper hand by joining Stybar in that late break, finished second from a vastly reduced and fragmented peloton, with AG2R La Mondiale’s Oliver Naesen third.

“This is really nice and funny that I win my first and my last race of the season," Van Poppel said. "The shape is still good and I wanted to ride. It is nice to end the year this way. The team did a great job and everything fell into place. It is never easy, but this time everything worked out well. That’s the difference with some other races this season. We were able to play two cards at the end, with Dylan and me. Dylan gave me the chance to go for it, and I’m glad I could finish it this way.”

With this the last in the Napoleon Games Cup series of small Belgian one-day races, Timothy Dupont (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) rode an aggressive race to take the overall title. With leader Sean De Bie (Veranda’s Willems-Crelan) abandoning early, and second-placed Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) absent, Dupont made it into breaks and scored points at the intermediate sprints, which, along with his eighth-place finish, catapulted him to the top of the standings.

It was non-stop action on a wet and windy day in Southern Belgium for the 31st edition of the race, now referred to as the Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke. The 194.7km route plotted a fairly flat course south to Chimay before returning for the four local laps.

An early break of six riders - Timothy Dupont (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Dries De Bondt, Stijn Steels (Veranda’s Willems-Crelan), Dimitri Peyskens (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic), Ide Schelling (SEG Racing Academy), Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie) - went away but only lasted 65 kilometres.

Soon after the catch was made, another six-rider group went clear on a trio of short climbs. Peyskens was in there again, along with Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale), Tom Devriendt (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Clement Orceau (Direct Energie), Cedric Raymackers (Cibel-Cebon), Lennert Teugels (Cibel-Cebon). De Bondt set off in lone pursuit but never made it across.

Soon after the return to Binche and the entry to the local laps, with 65km remaining, it was all back together again, triggering a chaotic period of constant attacking.

The key move went on the second lap, with 2016 champion Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) heading up the road, along with the Quick-Step duo of Stybar and Lampaert. Twenty riders initially made the cut but soon after crossing the finish line for the second time, it had been cut in two.

Those who made the cut were: Stybar, Démare, Dupont, Stijn Vandenbergh (AG2R La Mondiale), Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal), Maarten Wynants (LottoNL-Jumbo), Benjamin Declercq (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), and Ludwig De Winter (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic). After initially policing moves in the group behind, Lampaert set off and made his way over with Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) to make it 10.

With 25km to go Vandenbergh went solo and took the bell as the lone leader but was soon pegged back, at which point Stybar immediately launched his move. At that point the peloton, which was rapidly advancing under the stewardship of LottoNL-Jumbo, had caught the dropped breakaway riders and was just under a minute off the front of the race.

Stybar opened a lead of around 30 seconds as his breakaway companions drifted back, but he came up against a fully committed LottoNL-Jumbo train in what was essentially an uneven pursuit. Such was the Dutch squad’s forcing, they temporarily split the reduced peloton on the run-in to Binche.

Stybar gave it everything and started the cobbled climb in pole position but Groenewegen came bursting past, about to unleash Van Poppel for what turned out to be a commanding and stylish third victory of the season for the 25-year-old.

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