Lampaert wins Dwars door Vlaanderen

Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) retained his Dwars door Vlaanderen crown with a performance that continued his team's domination of the Belgian cobbled classics.

In pouring rain, Lampaert matched a number of key attacks in the final 25 kilometres before sailing away from a five-man break inside the final kilometre. Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb) and Sep Vanmarcke (EF-Education First) completed the podium.

The five-man group slipped clear on one of the final major sector of cobbles with 25 kilometres to go with Vanmarcke lifting the pace after a dangerous move involving Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) was nullified.

Vanmarcke powered clear on the cobbles and only Lampaert was able to follow at first before Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Teunissen and finally Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) made contact.

With Quick-Step monitoring the chase group, the quintet quickly built up a lead of over 40 seconds, as Van Avermaet tried in vain to mount a counter attack.

With five kilometres to go, it was clear that the break would decide the win, and Vanmarcke was the first to begin hostilities with a stinging attack from the front of group. Once again, it was Lampaert who matched him, and the Quick-Step rider responded with the same tactic as he quashed moves from Teunissen, Boasson Hagen and then Pedersen.

Lampaert appeared the freshest, his rivals knew it, but even their collective might wasn't enough to change an inevitable outcome.

Pedersen's surge off the front was swept up with just over 1,000m to go and as the pace slowed and the group began to look at each other, Lampaert sensed the moment to attack. He jumped clear with 850m to go and only looked back as he crossed the line to see the battle for the minor places unfold.

With the win, Lampaert joined an elite club of two-time winners of the race, Johan Museeuw and teammate Niki Terpstra. "It's fantastic to win. I know I'm not a champion like them but today I felt really great. It's again a WorldTour race I've won, so I'm very happy," he said.

The 26-year-old's victory continues Quick-Step's incredible spring campaign. The Belgian team have already tasted victory on 20 occasions this year, but it has been their home form that has stood out with wins in Le Samyn, the Johan Museeuw Classic, Nokere Koerse, Handzame Classics, De Panne, E3 Harelbeke, and now Dwars door Vlaanderen.

Those wins have been obtained by seven different riders – of whom Lampaert is just the latest – and with the Tour of Flanders just days away – the indications are that their run may continue a little while yet.

How it unfolded

After the relatively calm weather conditions at Gent-Wevelgem came the rain. And boy, did it rain. Wrapped head-to-toe in Gore-tex, the peloton shuffled out from Roselare with 180km ahead of them. Peter Sagan and Philippe Gilbert –both of whom stayed at home – probably had the wryest smiles of all as a number of their Ronde rivals huddled together in the opening kilometres and twitched nervously through every wet corner.

The racing itself took several hours to come to life. Perhaps the riders needed time to acclimatise to the race's new date in the calendar, or maybe it was the relentless rainfall, but it took until the second half of the race before an energised Luke Rowe attacked with 90km to go.

While much has been written surrounding Alejandro Valverde's recovery from injury, people forget that Rowe broke 20 bones in a non-cycling related accident last August. Still not back to his complete best, this was still a timely reminder of the ground he has made up. The Welshman established a 40-second lead before taking on the Kluisberg. He was eventually reeled in less than 30km later.

With 65km remaining BMC Racing, and then Quick-Step sprung to life, with both teams surging to the front. Despite the atrocious conditions, Van Avermaet's neat Olympic gold bands were just about distinguishable as he sat patiently in a line of teammates on the first ascent of the Knokteberg.

Once Rowe was brought back, Tony Martin accelerated clear, with Valverde and Heinrich Haussler determined to leave their marks too. Martin would eventually fall on a corner, but the German was still in contention and marked several moves before Quick-Step upped the pace - as they did in 2017 – with an attack on the Tainenberg.

Zdenek Stybar's turn of speed was too much for the rest of the sodden pack, with even Van Avermaet fading away. With 53km to go, the Czech rider sat up, but the strongest riders were beginning to impose themselves. Van Avermaet moved clear soon after with Benoot, Valverde and Martin for company but the Olympic champion never looked like creating a definitive selection. Lampaert, Gianni Moscon (Team Sky), Boasson Hagen, Pedersen, Vanmarcke and John Degenkolb completed the lead group.

Despite so many team leaders out front, Astana and LottoNL-Jumbo were about to bring the group back, but on the second and final ascent of the Knokteberg, the race split again, with Benoot and a desperate Van Avermaet going clear. Their lead never moved beyond the 12-second mark, with Lampaert, Niki Terpstra, Stybar, Valverde, Vanmarcke, Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Teunissen, Boasson Hagen, Moscon, and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) all making the juncture.

With BMC looking spent, and Quick-Step deliberating over who would attack next, Vanmarcke accelerated on the cobbled sector through Varent. Van Avermaet's head went down, but Lampaert was astute enough to see the danger, and along with Teunissen, Boasson Hagen, and Pedersen, they scampered away. Benoot, Van Avermaet and finally Stybar mounted late chases, but just over 20km later it was Lampaert who seized the moment with the most telling attack.

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