Heistse Pijl: Paul Magnier wins crash-riddled one-day race

Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) finally shook off months of missed opportunities and misfortune, winning the Heistse Pijl in a reduced bunch sprint ahead of Tobias Andresen (Uno-X Mobility) and Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

The closing laps were riddled with crashes in the UCI 1.1 race, with the last coming with 7.5km to go just after the peloton caught solo attacker Aldo Tailleu (Lotto).

An earlier crash too pre-race favourite Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) out of contention and Magnier also went down in a spill with 29km to go.

But the Frenchman won the survival of the fittest to revive his season after starting the year with a victory in the Etoile de Bessèges but going winless ever since.

"It's a beautiful win that gives me great pleasure, because it came after a fantastic team effort," Magnier said. 

"The entire squad did a great job, and Bert was incredible in the final kilometers, making sure the whole time that I was where I needed to be, from the last climb to the closing kilometer of the race. In the sprint, I just did my best, and I'm happy that I could bring the victory home. It's a perfect way to start the month and I hope more wins will follow soon for our team."

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