Hermans holds off pack for Brabantse Pijl win

Ben Hermans (BMC) held off the chasers with a huge effort on the final climb to win De Brabantse Pijl- La Flèche Brabançonne.

The Belgian race traditionally marks the switch from the cobbled Classics to the Ardennes Classics and the tough, twisting final circuits usually inspire some aggressive racing.

Hermans was in a late attack with David Tanner (IAM Cycling) that seemed doomed to be caught but he dug deep and managed to win alone, as the chasers scrambled for the placings. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) tried to lead out the sprint in pursuit of Hermans but could only finish second. 2014 winner and perhaps the BMC team leader for the race, Philippe Gilbert, finished third. Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) was fourth and Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) was fifth.

Hermans needed time to catch his breath and understand what he had achieved before riding to the podium area. It was only the third win of his professional career, and the first since taking the Trofeo Inca in Mallorca back in 2011.

"The race was really hard in the beginning but I could stay on the wheels and save energy," he said. "I’ve done this race several times and I’d suffered in the past. But I told Philippe (Gilbert) that (I felt good) and said he should tell me if he wants to me to make the race hard and go in a counter-attack. That’s what I did and it went all good and I could win the race."

"I was very scared of being caught. You don’t have many chances to win a race in this way, if you’re not explosive and you don’t have a sprint like Philippe, you don’t have many chances. I was in a good position and had to push all the watts I had and lucky it was enough."

Matthews was disappointed to finish second for a second consecutive year but promised to try again in 2016.

"I had really good legs today and my team positioned me really well but unfortunately I had no teammates left in the last 15km. I just had to play my cards hoping that another team as going to bring it back. Unfortunately I won the sprint to the line but it was second, not for first."

"This is a race that suits me and that I enjoy racing. It’s really nice weather today and it’s a positive race to prepare for the Ardennes too. I’ll be back next year, trying to win it," he said.

How it happened

The 205km race route includes 26 tough climbs, with a loop south of Brussels via Waterloo after the start in the centre of Leuven, east of the capital. The climbs come thick and fast in the second half of the race on the tough 27km circuit that is covered four times.

Kirsch was dropped quite quickly as the climbs started to take their toll but the other two ploughed on, making the peloton chase hard and causing a natural selection out of the back of the race. They were eventually caught with 30km to go but other attacks quickly formed as the huge crowds cheered them up the climbs.

Tanner and Hermans went away as BMC set up its tactical plan for Gilbert, with others setting off in pursuit of the pair. The chasing group of eight riders included Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) and Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) but the peloton was preparing for the final and pulled back mid-way through the final lap.

Only Hermans and Tanner remained out front and had a 30-second lead with seven kilometres to go. It seemed they would be caught and Tanner faded on a climb, but Hermans powered on alone. Behind the Etixx-QuickStep team set up an attack by Julian Alaphilippe but he was quickly caught as CCC Sprandi rode for Rebellin and BMC protected Gilbert.

Hermans focused on reaching the finishing straight and then eased up to savour his solo victory. Matthews lead out the sprint and won it well but it was second place, with Gilbert and the rest of the chase group just behind him.

Full Results