Dwars door Vlaanderen: Lampaert parlays Quick-Step tactics to victory

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Local boy Yves Lampaert capitalised on some top tactical work by Quick-Step Floors to take a solo victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen. Philippe Gilbert made it a double day of glory for the Belgian team, sprinting to second place from the three-man chasing group. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) rounded off the podium, beating Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott) into third place.

"For me it’s a dream that came true. It’s not that far from my home and I did a lot of recons to do this race," Lampaert said. "To win, for me it’s a fantastic gift that I can give to the team and thanks to everybody."

Quick-Step had two cards to play in the finale and found themselves with a royal flush when it came down to the crunch. Lampaert laid the heavy groundwork on the final climbs before an attack from Gilbert on the Paterberg forced the race-winning split. Lampaert was one of the only riders who had the legs to follow Gilbert, along with Lutsenko and Durbridge.

The quartet worked well together, pulling out a gap of over a minute, which was helped by a lack of co-operation behind. Even with 10 kilometres remaining, it became clear that the winner of the race would come from the four out front. They worked well together until Gilbert finally broke ranks on the final stretch of cobbles.

No sooner was Gilbert brought back than Lampaert made his own move. Lampaert, who missed most of the Classics last season after injuring his Achilles when his girlfriend accidentally ran into him with a shopping trolley, had to fight hard to build the gap but he knew the roads and eventually won by 37 seconds over his teammate.

"For me it's a dream that came true. It's not that far from my home and I did a lot of recons to do this race. To win, for me it's a fantastic gift that I can give to the team and thanks to everybody," Lampaert said after his win.

How it happened

There was a somber start to the day as the riders and public honoured the victims of last year's terror attack in Brussels with a minute's silence. The attacks happened on the eve of last year's race and provided the lingering concern would mark the entire Classics programme in Belgium. This year, the general atmosphere, while reflective, was more buoyant than that of 12 months ago.

The racing got underway with clear skies above and the riders were ready to get down to business quickly. Right from the get-go, riders were trying to break free of the peloton as a barrage of moves came off the front. After more than 30 kilometres of racing, a solid break formed with Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis, Solutions Credits), Ivan Savitsky (Gazprom - Rusvelo), Lawrence Naesen (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect), Benjamin Perry (Israel Cycling Academy), Michael Goolaerts (Veranda's Willems Crelan), Jon Ander Insausti (Bahrain-Merida).

With Quick-Step Floors happy to control things on the front, they allowed the six men a healthy advantage of almost six minutes at one stage, before bringing it down to much closer to five minutes. That didn't last long though and Quick-Step upped the pace as they approached the first of 12 climbs the Nieuwe Kwaremont. By that point, only three minutes separated the escapees from the charging peloton.

While the leaders did their best to hold off the inevitable, the battle for Belgian supremacy began behind. Lotto Soudal's former winner Jelle Wallays, or Speedy Wally as he's affectionately known by his fans, punched a hole in the air by charging up the second climb of the day, the Kattenberg. He never got too far ahead of the peloton but the pressure brought the gap down to 1:33, having been at just over two minutes only moments before.

Sensing the catch was not too far away, Van Bilsen tried a number of fruitless moves but he could do nothing to halt the tide of the peloton washing over them. After Wallays did some damage, Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors). Gilbert's move killed two birds with one stone by splitting the peloton and all but ending the day of the escapees.

Joining Gilbert in his band of brothers were Wallays, Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors), Loic Vliegen, Dylan Teuns (BMC), Mat Hayman, Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott), Mike Teunissen (Sunweb), Dylan Groenewegen, Amund Jansen (LottoNl-Jumbo), Matti Breschel, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates), Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis).

Notable absences from that move were Arnaud Demare (FDJ), Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo). Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) accelerated hard in front of the peloton on the Taaienberg, only to find some watchdogs neutralising his efforts. Despite some work from Bahrain-Merida, the gap grew up to 45 seconds when approaching the Oude Kwaremont. Lutsenko and Lampaert were setting the pace on the long cobbled climb.

The Paterberg turned out to be Quick-Step Floors' battleground. In front, Lampaert led the first part of the climb before teammate Gilbert accelerated on the final section of the short but steep cobbled climb. Durbridge, Lutsenko and Lampaert were the only riders who managed to keep up with the Belgian champion.

Back in the peloton, there was another attack featuring Stybar and Terpstra. The other teams were left without an answer. Terpstra and Lampaert bridged up with the nine remaining riders of the former lead group. Further back, a group of 15 riders was coming closer. On the tenth climb of the day, the Vossenhol climb, the two chase groups came together and formed a peloton of 26 riders. The four leaders were co-operating perfectly and kept the first peloton at 45 seconds on the Vossenhol climb.

With little co-operation in the chasing bunch, the four leaders were allowed to extend and hold their lead. Quick-Step had the upper hand with two in the key move, and Gilbert and Lampaert did their best to soften up the other escapees. Gilbert struck first with a move on the final stretch of cobbles, Herlegemstraat. He was brought back but Lampaert was quick to react and made his own move soon after.

As Gilbert sat on the back, Durbridge and Lutsenko tried to catch the young Belgian. It looked like they might just do it but they appeared to give up when another injection of pace from Lampaert increased the distance.

Quick-Step almost always turns up to a race with plenty of options, but often they fail to convert that into victory. On this occasion, it the team managed to play it spot on and Lampaert ground out his first individual win since the 2015 season.

"Dit is nu hoe het geluk van een koersmens eruit ziet". @yveslampaert wint @DwarsdrVlaander! #DDV pic.twitter.com/aN8JR7c1wc

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