Tom Van Asbroeck wins Binche-Chimay-Binche

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Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel Cycling Academy) claimed victory in Binche-Chimay-Binche after he edged out Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) by millimetres in a group sprint on the rain-soaked cobbles of the Grand Place in Binche.

The Belgian endured a short wait for the race commissaires to consult the photo finish before he was confirmed as race winner, though Naesen had already offered his congratulations on crossing the finish line as the winner of the Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke.

Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) took third place after leading out the sprint on behalf of his teammate Tim Roosen, who was unable to come around and had to settle for fourth. Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Souda) came home in fifth ahead of Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).

"It was a real photo finish," said Van Asbroeck, who drew on his experience of finishing third on the same finale in Binche in 2015, when Ramon Sinkeldam emerged victorious.

"I know I wanted to be on the left-hand side. I knew the sprint from when Sinkeldam won, so I tried to do the same thing and it worked out perfectly. It was very close with Oli [Naesen] in the end."

It was the fourth victory of Van Asbroeck's career and his first since leaving EF Education First for Israel Cycling Academy at the beginning of this season. His last win came in LottoNL-Jumbo colours at the Tour du Poitou Charentes in 2016.

"I'm very happy. It's my first win of the season, and I'm delighted to end my year like that," said Van Asbroeck, who is also set to line out at Paris-Bourges and Paris-Tours later this week.

A group of 17 riders disputed the honours on a sodden day in Wallonia, with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Florian Sénéchal (Deceuninck-QuickStep) among those bridging across to Van Asbroeck, Naesen and the earlier escapees on the final lap of the finishing circuit.

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) made a bold solo bid for victory on the last lap, but he was pegged back with a little under 6km to go. Küng, Stuyven and Sénéchal were all prominent in forcing the pace on the uphill stretch of cobbles in the final kilometre, but they were unable to forge clear as Van Emden looked to set up Roosen for the sprint.

Naesen came from a long way back in the chaotic sprint, but Van Asbroeck timed his effort well along the barriers. They both dived for the line at the same time and, by the narrowest of margins, victory fell to Van Asbroeck.

How it unfolded

Low clouds and steady drizzle greeted the peloton at the start in Binche, where the late Frank Vandebroucke was remembered in the week of the tenth anniversary of his tragically premature death.

The opening segment of the parcours brought the race to Chimay, and a group of four riders had established a lead over the peloton by the time they reached the home of the eponymous beer and Trappist monastery. Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy), Lasse Norman Hansen (Corendon-Circus), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Gianni Marchand (Cibel) built up a buffer just shy of 4 minutes over the bunch before Groupama-FDJ began to claw them back on behalf of Arnaud Démare.

The four leaders were caught as the race reached the finishing circuit around Binche, and a new break formed on the first of five laps. Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Dries De Bondt (Corendon-Circus) and Jenthe Biermans (Katusha-Alpecin) broke away with a little under 60km to go, and they were soon joined by Taco van der Hoorn (Jumbo-Visma), Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal), Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel Cycling Academy), Stan Dewulf (Lotto Soudal), Bert Van Lerberghe (Cofidis), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

That dozen had a lead of a minute with two laps remaining, though a notable cameo from Niki Terpstra, whose Direct Energie team had missed the move, saw their lead drop steadily on the approach to the bell.

Out in front, De Bondt piled on the pressure on the uphill stretch of cobbles at Pépinière for the penultimate, dropping Serry and Van Lerberghe from the break in the process. Behind, meanwhile, Küng accelerated forcefully from the main peloton, bringing Stuyven, Sénéchal, Timo Roosen (Jumbo-Visma), Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma), Alan Riou (Arkea-Samsic), Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal) and Damien Touze (Cofidis) with him.

Just after taking the bell, Campenaerts launched a forceful attack, building up a lead of 25 seconds over the chasers, but his solo effort was doomed once the Küng group merged with Naesen et al. and they duly clawed back the Hour Record holder with a little over 5km to go.

Sénéchal, Küng, Dewulf and Van der Hoorn briefly threatened to drift clear on the run-in, but Theuns managed to pin them back on behalf of Stuyven. Jumbo-Visma had strength in numbers as the leaders clattered across the cobbles in Binche, but they were unable to use them to their advantage as Van Asbroeck had the staying power in the sprint to claim victory.