Danny van Poppel wins Binche-Chimay-Binche

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Danny van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) claimed an emphatic win in Binche-Chimay-Binche, launching a searing attack ahead with some 800 metres to go and opening an unassailable gap to give his team a nice farewell present before moving across to Bora-Hansgrohe in 2022.

Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) surged to try to reach the Dutch rider on the final ascent but could not match his power and had to settle for second. Alpecin-Fenix rider Lionel Taminiaux also forged clear to complete the podium.

The Deceuninck-Quickstep team, having worked for much of the second half of the race, came up empty handed after Fabio Jakobsen dropped out of the race with two finishing laps to go and Mark Cavendish could not follow the acceleration of Van Poppel across the cobblestones.

The 198.6km 1.1-ranked race saw three riders remain from the early breakaway as the peloton entered the finishing circuits. Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Fenix), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauzen WB) and Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies) held a slim lead.

With two 16km laps to go, Van Gestel was dropped on the climb but Anthony Turgis followed Kobe Goossens (Lotto Soudal) on a counter-attack and replaced his teammate, making it four riders up front.

Cavendish had to stop for a bike change with 30km to go, but Deceuninck-Quickstep continued controlling the pace, reeling in a move by Alan Riou (Arkéa-Samsic) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) as he made his way back into the peloton.

The breakaway had 38 seconds with 20km to go when Turgis attacked but slid out in a wet bend and crashed out of the move.

Janssens lost contact on the finish climb heading into one lap to go, while Deceuninck-Quickstep brought the gap down to 12 seconds with 16km to go. Goossens was the last rider from the move caught with 14km to go just as Arkéa-Samsic trainee Kévin Vauquelin launched an attack.

The 20-year-old only held a handful of seconds and was caught with 5.8km tog o just before a crash in the field took out two riders, Aaron Van Poucke (Sport Vlaanderen) and Alexis Renard (Israel Start-Up Nation).

More attacks flew on the twisting roads ahead of the final 3km, with Josef Cerny (Deceuninck-Quickstep) making a move and, when Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Alpecin-Fenix) attempted to go off in pursuit, he was marked by none other than Mark Cavendish.

The surge caused splits in the field, with a reduced group making contact with the trio ahead of 2km to go.

Danny van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) made a big surge inside 1km to go and there was no response. Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) tried but failed to catch the flying Dutchman but held on for second.