Vakoc wins De Brabantse Pijl - La Fleche Brabanconne

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Czech champion Petr Vakoc turned around Etixx-QuickStep's bad luck in the classics, winning the Brabantse Pijl ahead of Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal).

Vakoc broke clear with teammate Julian Alaphilppe on the penultimate climb, and the Frenchman pushed the pace all the way to the final ascent to Schavei where Vakoc was then able to make the winning move.

Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) beat Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) in the sprint from the peloton.

"It was an amazing day and I'm really grateful to the team, they did an absolutely amazing job," Vakoc said. "In the final Julian was pulling the five of us, and I had this attack in my mind.

"Normally I would like to go a little later, but then everyone was hesitating a little in the final corner. I just went full gas - the steep climbs really suit me well. I went really hard to make the gap but it was still really long to the finish. When I looked back and saw the gap was getting bigger, it gave me more power and I couldn't stop. I left everything out there."

The win was Vakoc's third one-day victory of the season in addition to two best young rider titles in the Tour du Haut-Var and Tour La Provence, where he was also second overall. In February he won the Classic Sud Ardèche - Souvenir Francis Delpech, and the Drôme Classic before coming fifth in Strade Bianche.

"It's maybe the biggest victory of my career," Vakoc said before looking ahead to this weekend's Amstel Gold Race, where he may now share leadership with his teammates. "I've been working a lot on my endurance, last year I did the Giro [d'Italia] which helped me with my condition. I like hard races, I like long races, maybe 250km could be a bit long, but I believe with the condition I have now I can do similar effort on the Cauberg on Sunday."

How it unfolded

Oliver Zaugg (IAM Cycling), Sergey Nikolaev (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Alberto Cecchin (Team Roth), and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18) escaped early in the 205.3km Brabantse Pijl, and had a lead of more than five minutes, but with 16 climbs in the final 75km, the action really heated up as the race closed in on the three 23km final circuits.

Martin Mortensen (ONE Pro Cycling) made the first attack from the field as the leaders' gap had been reduced to 1:30, jumping clear on the IJskelderlaan. He seemed to be taking his attack casually as he waited for riders to come across, and was surprised to see the likes of Pieter Serry (Etixx - QuickStep), Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal) and Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) join him with Christian Mager (Stölting Service Group) tacked on the back.

Serry, De Bie and Impey dropped their previous companions in an attempt to make the move stick, while behind them BMC's Dylan Teuns and Loic Vliegen attacked with Tosh van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) and joined with the remnants of the earlier move. They were followed by Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie) making it nine men chasing the three leaders, who were 32 seconds ahead of them, while the peloton was 30 seconds behind with 57km to go. Eventually nine men would remain up front, with

The Holstheide with 57km to go split the chasing group, with just Vliegen, Tulik and Van der Sande making the bridge to the three leaders, making it six up front. Teuns, Mortensen and Buchmann ditched the other three and carried on their chase alone, just 15 seconds behind with 53.8km to go. Persistence paid off with the trio rejoining the leaders on the IJskelderlaan a few kilometres later.

Pieter Serry (Etixx - QuickStep), Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal), Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge), Christian Mager (Stölting Service Group), Martin Mortensen (ONE Pro Cycling), Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie), Tosh van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18), Dylan Teuns and Loic Vliegen (BMC Racing) continued to hold a 43 second gap as the race headed into the final two circuits.

On the sinuous route around Schavei, the peloton was a model of controlled chaos, with attacks jumping clear and being caught repeatedly and no one team in charge. There were punctures and crashes, too, with pre-race favourite Vakoc and Silvan Diller (BMC) one of several riders suffering punctures, while Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) crashed.

Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) escaped the clutches of the peloton on the way out of Schavei, but had a 40-second gap to bridge across and he was heavily marked. his teammate countered but was marked by Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) over the top of the Hagaard, but not even the Dutchman could make a move stick. With 40km to go, however, the attacks served to bring the leaders' advantage down to just 26 seconds.

Sondre Holst Enger (IAM Cycling) and Berden De Vries (Roompot) managed to escape the peloton and caught Buchmann, who had been dropped from the breakaway. The German champion had little left to contribute. Sam Oomen (Giant-Alepcin) came across soon after, but the chasers had only a few seconds on the peloton, with the leaders 23 seconds further ahead, thanks to a concerted chase by Cannondale for Tom-Jelte Slagter.

The chase paid off, with Cannondale first gobbling up Van der Sande before a surge from IAM Cycling shut down the rest of the escape. With 31km to go there were still seven climbs and one final circuit, and Orica-GreenEdge came to the front to control the race for Matthews.

The truce lasted for only a few kilometres before Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) used the IJskelderlaan to make a move off the front and was joined by Etixx-QuickStep's Julian Alaphilippe - a formidable duo with a 20-second gap with one lap to go.

Direct Energie started pitching in on the chase for Bryan Coquard, but backed off after Thomas Voeckler suffered a puncture. A surge from Roompot's Pieter Weening whittled the gap to 13 seconds inside the 20km to go mark before Orica-GreenEdge came back to the front to set the pace. On the cobbled Hertstraat climb, Alaphilippe desperately tried to keep the move going. The peloton could see the pair but just could not close the gap, and even Matthews himself came to the front to try to reel them in.

The efforts finally paid off with just over 10km to go, and on the Holstheide Weening went again and this time opened up a solid lead, and once again it was Etixx-QuickStep who went after him, with Gianni Meersman attempting to go across. Soon, Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) made it to Meersman with BMC's Alessandro De Marchi marking the move and the trio were brought back quickly by the peloton. With 6km to go, Weening too was caught back by a reduced peloton, setting up a hotly contested finale.

The IJskelderlaan was the last chance for the attackers to break away, and Gallopin followed a move from IAM's David Tanner, with Vakoc and Alaphilippe and Gasparotto making it across, forcing Matthews to lead the chase behind.

Alaphilippe sold out for his Czech teammate, pushing a furious pace into the final kilometre to open up a 10-second gap. The peloton behind shattered, with CCC Sprandi-Polkowice forcing the pace. Alaphilippe kept the throttle wide open into the final climb where Vakoc then made his move.

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