Colbrelli wins Brabantse Pijl

Bahrain-Merida’s Sonny Colbrelli surged to victory at Wednesday’s Brabantse Pijl, getting clear of the peloton with a select group in the final 40 kilometres and taking a convincing win at the line in Overijse.

Defending champion Petr Vakoc (Quick-Step Floors) bridged up to the move in the closing kilometres to claim runner-up honours on the day, while Lotto Soudal’s Tiesj Benoot rounded out the podium in third.

"That was a tough race today, and we had to work really hard to stay out of reach of the peloton," Colbrelli said before the podium ceremony. "I’m very happy to have won this race, all the more so as the Quick-Step team tried all it could in the finale. This was the best possible preparation for the Amstel Gold Race, both for me and the entire team."

Colbrelli was instrumental in springing the decisive move, jumping clear just as the bunch was closing down on the day’s main breakaway. With teammate Grega Bole in the escape, along with the likes of Benoot, Silvan Dillier (BMC Racing) and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Orica-Scott), the move quickly opened up a gap as the peloton reabsorbed riders form the early breakaway.

Although their advantage never stretched out too much more than 30 seconds, and with several teams in the peloton hoping to close things down before the finish, the escape stubbornly hung on out front, with Colbrelli exhorting his fellow escapees to push on at every opportunity.

Vakoc and Lotto Soudal’s Tim Wellens came across in the run-in to the uphill finish, but Colbrelli was not to be denied, easily winning the sprint to the line.

"We had two guys in the front group, so we just kept an eye on them and controlled the others in case they would try an attack in order to close the gap," Vakoc said. "When Tim went, I followed immediately and we joined the leaders inside the final kilometers. I tried to surprise the group with an attack but couldn't drop them. Then Dries [Devenyns] did a perfect job leading me out and I was confident in my sprint, but unfortunately there was a stronger rider than me today.

"I won't hide that I'm a bit disappointed, because Brabantse Pijl is my favourite race of the year and I really wanted the victory," Vakoc said. "But at the same time, this give me even more motivation for Amstel Gold Race."

How it unfolded

The breakaway wasted little time animating the 197km Belgian 1.HC race from Leuven to Overijse, with a group of six going clear in the early kilometres to face the many Ardennes climbs dotted along the course.

The six were Jacques Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue Sport), Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani CSF), Zak Dempster (Israel Cycling Academy), Christophe Prémont (Vérandas Willems-Crelan) and Christophe Masson (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect).

The group lost Prémont on the first hills of the day, but after just 27km of racing, the five remaining escapees extended their lead to 6:45 over a peloton recovering from a fast opening salvo. Quick-Step Floors and Team Sunweb took up the chasing duties and brought the gap down to 5:50 as the leaders’ advantage continued to slowly come back down.

With 90km remaining, the breakaway’s advantage was down to just 2:42, and the leaders’ effort suffered another blow when Dempster dropped his chain on a cobbled climb and was unable to regain contact.

Van Rensburg, Blythe, Rota and Masson continued on, but their gap was down to less than a minute with 65km to go as they started the first of three 23km finishing circuits that featured five climbs – Hagaard, Hertstraat, Holstheide, IJskelderlaan and Schavei – on each lap.

With the quartet up front leading by just a handful of seconds, the Colbrelli-led counter-attack of about a dozen riders formed a chase, closing in on the breakaway as they approached the start of the penultimate lap.

The chase group quickly caught and dispatched the early breakaway riders, with the new lead group including Bole, Benoot, Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors), Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors), Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Juul Jensen (Orica-Scott), Silvan Dillier (BMC Racing), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Victor Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Stijn Devolder (Vérandas Willems-Crelan), among others.

The punchy cobbled climbs on the closing circuit quickly whittled that group down to eight, and they carried just 18 seconds into the final lap. Direct Energie took up the chasing duties, eventually handing off to Cannondale-Drapac, but the leaders’ advantage jumped to 28 seconds with 8.5km to go.

The leaders carried less than 10 seconds into the final climb at 2km, and whether the winner would come from the escape or the chase remained unclear, although the breakaway got a boost when Vakoc bridged up with Wellens and immediately went to the front to add some horsepower.

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