Cees Bol wins crash-marred Nokere Koerse

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Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) sprinted to victory at Nokere Koerse after a crash-marred final along the cobbled incline to the finish line took down his teammate Max Walscheid and cyclo-cross world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus). Bol was the fastest to the line ahead of Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates).

Bora-Hansgrohe led the initial sprint into the bottom of hill and onto the cobbles with Ackermann positioned in second wheel, and although the German road champion looked as though he would hold off his rivals, Bol proved fastest with a late surge to the line that netted him the day's victory.

How it unfolded

The peloton returned to the cobbles at the mid-week Nokere Koerse on Wednesday in Belgium with a 195.6km race between Deinze and Nokere.

A quarter of the way in saw a five-man break clear the field and build a significant, seven-minute lead over the peloton behind. The riders included Yohann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), David Boucher (Tarteletto-Isorex), Otto Vergaerde (Corendon-Circus), Axel Journiaux (Direct Energie) and Mattia Viel (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec).

While the breakaway riders pushed out front and contested hilltop sprints for category points, the peloton, led by UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe, increased speeds behind and reduced the gap to under six minutes by mid-race.

Deceuninck-QuickStep picked up the reins and slashed the gap in half, down to three minutes within 50km to the finish line, clearly looking for their 19th win of the season in Nokere.

As they raced closer to the finish, the breakaway fractured with only three remaining out front: Bouchaer, Offredo and Vergaerde. Although they tried to hang on to their two-minute gap, late-race attacks from Lars Boom (Roompot-Charles), Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) and Pim Ligthart (Direct Energie) only served to shut the gap down faster. Even the young Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took one dig with 20km to go, but his efforts were short-lived, and the peloton reeled him in a few metres later.

The peloton approached the remnants of the early breakaway, and two more riders attacked: Clement Russo (Arkea-Samsic) and Clement Carisey (Israel Cycling Academy), who managed to quickly picked up 30 seconds but ultimately dangled out front while the teams behind set up for a bunch sprint.

The nervousness inside the field increased and several crashes took down riders in the last 15km, but Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe carried on with their lead-out trains into the final climb over Nokere berg.

Riders from CCC Team, Roompot, Lotto Soudal and Jumbo-Visma all moved to the front over the climbs and cobbled sections in the final five kilometres. Marco Canola (Nippo Vini Fantini) made a solo effort but crashed over the slippery cobbles, and then it was Boom who tried another move 3km out, but Deceuninck-QuickStep shut it down.

Team Sunweb took over the lead-outs under the kilometre-to-go banner. Bora-Hansgrohe jumped first into the cobbled incline in the final 500 metres, while simultaneously a crash took down several contenders. Ackermann was the first to sprint with Bol on his wheel. The Sunweb rider mustered enough force on his pedals to sprint around Ackermann and across the line with the win.

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