Boeckmans wins Le Samyn

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Etixx-QuickStep had the strength in numbers in the finale but there was precious little they could do to prevent Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal) from sprinting to victory at the end of an entertaining edition of Le Samyn.

Stijn Vandenbergh's show of force on the final stretch of cobblestones at the Rue de Belleville with a little over two kilometres to go reduced the leading group to just eight riders, four of them from his Etixx-QuickStep team, but like at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, the men in black couldn't make that numerical superiority count.

This time around, at least, there was no tactical second guessing. Etixx-QuickStep's approach was planned around delivering Gianni Meersman to a sprint finish after burning off as many of the other established fast men as possible. Vandenbergh and company duly rid themselves of the likes of Bryan Coquard (Europcar), Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) and Adrien Petit (Cofidis) on the final laps of the finishing circuit.

In the finishing straight, however, Boeckmans was a class apart. As Etixx-QuickStep's Yves Lampaert led out the sprint, Boeckmans locked himself onto Meersman's wheel, before shooting to the front with 200 metres remaining and instantly opening a winning gap.

Meersman was caught on the back foot and though he battled gamely after coming off Lampaerts' wheel, he simply had too much ground to make up and had to settle for second place. Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) claimed third place ahead of Boeckmans' Lotto teammate Tiesj Benoot.

Boeckmans had placed second at Le Samyn in 2012 and 2013, and was delighted to finally take the win on the redesigned parcours.

"I was just as good in the other years but now I have luck on my side and I'm winning," said Boeckmans, who also won a stage at Étoile des Bessèges last month. "I started my sprint with 200 metres to go and I went before Gianni. His teammate kept leading him out and it was almost another 100 metres before he swung over. That was an advantage."

Meersman won the Cadel Evans Ocean Race and a stage of the Volta ao Algarve in February, and he must have felt he was set for another victory when he had Vandenbergh, Lampaert and Niki Terpstra for company at the head of the race as they rattled over the final stretch of cobbles. He felt he had erred by delaying his sprint.

"If you have good legs, you have to win," he said. "I am very disappointed with my second place finish. Kris was the first to go. I could have come back but the finish came up too fast. I was close but the finish came ten metres too soon."

De Gendt to the fore

Much of the interest before this year's edition of Le Samyn focused on the redesigned finishing circuit and its extra spread of cobbles, though the day's early break went clear long before the peloton reached those final five laps around Dour.

Boeckmans' teammate Thomas De Gendt was part of that move with Latvian strongman Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) and Ludwig De Winter (Wallonie-Bruxelles), and together they established a lead in excess of six minutes over a peloton led by Etixx-QuickStep and Trek Factory Racing.

With 60 kilometres remaining, and now on that local lap in Dour, De Gendt decided to clip off the front alone, dropping his breakaway companions on the cobbled climb of the Côte de la Roquette and bracing himself for a lone Odyssey at the head of the race.

As soon as De Gendt struck out alone, his gap over the main peloton began to dwindle accordingly, dropping to four minutes with 50 kilometres remaining and then to 1:15 with 30 kilometres left. He lasted out front for another ten kilometres, however, and his efforts allowed Boeckmans and his Lotto-Soudal team to shelter in the main body of the peloton.

"We had a whole day at ease because Thomas was in the break," Boeckmans said. "Then in the finale, I was at my limit for a whole six kilometres."

After De Gendt was pegged back, Adrien Petit (Cofidis) was the danger man in the next group that ghosted up the road. The Frenchman had Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto-Soudal) and Sergei Lagutin (Katusha) for company in the eight-man group, but they never managed to strike a decent working alliance, and Petit took off alone with 10 kilometres remaining.

By that point, however, Etixx-QuickStep and Trek Factory Racing were ratcheting up the pace in the main peloton and he was swept back up shortly afterwards. Once onto the final blast over the Rue de Belleville, Vandenbergh – inevitably – came to the front, and his searing pace strung out the peloton and helped the decisive group of eight to break clear.

As well as the four QuickStep men, there were two from Lotto (Boeckmans and Benoot) and two from Cofidis (Laport and Steve Chainel), but there was little question of collaboration in those frantic final two kilometres. Vandenbergh kept turning his monster gear over on the front, before swinging over and allowing Lampaert through.

The script said that Meersman was due to bring it home from there, only for Boeckmans' quick ad lib to give the final word to Lotto-Soudal.

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