Remco Evenepoel wins Brussels Cycling Classic

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Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) pulled off another solo victory at the Brussels Cycling Classic, just two days after winning the Druivenkoers-Overijse race.

On Thursday, Evenepoel attacked alone with 60km to go. This time he took advantage of several breakaway companions going the wrong way with 18km to go and then attacked Aime De Gendt (Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert) with 10km to go and time trialed to victory.

De Gendt finished 50 seconds behind, while Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) won the sprint for third place at 2:14 after being lead out by teammate Philippe Gilbert. Marc Hirschi and the USA’s Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) finished fifth and sixth after also joining the break of the race with Evenepoel and De Gendt but then also going the wrong way.

“My legs weren’t fresh after the other day but I’m happy to win here, this is almost my home race,” Evenepoel said.

“It’s weird that some of the guys went the wrong way because we all have the route in our computers. I knew we had to go left because we had to go to my home village and across a cobbled street.

“I was surprised when it happened but there was no point in waiting because the peloton was quite close in the end. It’s just a shame for the race because everyone was quite strong and aggressive.”

Evenepoel has still to earn selection for the Belgian team for the Road World Championships but has avoided demanding a place, letting his legs do the talking. He has likely now done enough to secure a secondary leadership role alongside designated team leader Wout van Aert.

He will ride the Benelux Tour next week and then target the time trial and road race at the European Championships in Trento, Italy in early September, a week before the World Championships on home roads in Flanders.

How it happened

The 204km one-day race started in the Belgian capital and headed deep into the Flemish countryside.

An early break led the race to the Muur of Geraardsbergen but the legendary Flemish climb and the fight for position split the race with Evenepoel following a strong attack from Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka-NextHash).

They caught the early break and were joined by Gilbert, Van der Sande, Hirschi and McNulty, and then quickly opened a 90-second gap on the Alpecin-Fenix lead peloton.

Arkéa–Samsic and Cofidis tried to help the chase on the ride back to Brussels but the remaining climbs and cobbled road, plus occasional rain, made their task difficult.

The riders from the early break were eventually dispatched and everyone was expecting an attack from Evenepoel near his home village of Schepdaal. However, the confusion at the junction with 18km to go split the group and allowed Evenepoel to take advantage of local knowledge of the roads and superb form to win again.