Terpstra wins second Le Samyn title

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Le Samyn was Quick-Step Floor's race to lose, and they didn't. Niki Terpstra jumped and cleared the final three-man breakaway, and muscled his way around the day's gruelling, cobbled circuit before finishing with his second victory in Dour.

It was a case of classic tactics as Quick-Step's Philippe Gilbert, also in the final move, as he backed lone rival Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie) into the unfortunate position of having to perform a futile chase only to finish third as Gilbert rode around him on the run-in to the finish line for second place.

"I am very happy, but must say we suffered today with every kilometer, because the cold made use spend a lot of energy," Terpstra said. "It wasn't easy to race in these conditions, but fortunately it worked out well for us at the end of the day. We knew the break was strong and the responsibility was on us, so that's why we attacked in the crosswinds from afar.

"We went full gas and turned everything into an elimination race, with more and more guys getting tired and dropped. The team rode a textbook race, Philippe was perfect in the finale and we just made use of our numerical advantage, so that I could get away and take this beautiful win."

The peloton had a chance to stretch its legs during Belgium's 'opening weekend' with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, where Quick-Step Floors came up empty-handed. And so, perhaps out of sheer frustration, they came out swinging mid-week for Le Samyn's 200km race between Quaregon and Dour.

The parcours was unforgiving, featuring four bergs in the first half. It was tough enough for an early split with Gaudin, Maxime Daniel (Fortuneo), Tom Devriendt (Wany Groupe-Gobert), Quentin Jauregui (AG2R-La Mondiale), Johan Le Bon (Vital Concept), Casper Pedersen (Aqua Blue), Franklin Six and Alex Kirsch (WB Aqua Sport) clearing the field.

Once the climbs were out of the way, Quick-Step Floors amassed at the front of the peloton with a pace so fast that it forced a split with 10 chasers - six of those were from Quick-Step.

Former winners Gilbert and Terpstra along with Tim Declercq, Davide Martinelli, Florian Sénéchal, and Zdenek Stybar controlled the chase; hell-bent on catching the breakaway, while Boris Vallée (Wanty Group-Gobert), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) and Maxime Daniel (Fortuneo) sat tight on the back. They made the catch.

At the half-way mark, the parcours entered the final four circuits, and the now 16-rider lead group held on to a 40-second lead, neither here nor there because Quick-Step planned to further blow the race apart over the four cobbled sectors on each lap.

They shelled riders one by one; first, it was Six followed by Vallée and then Quick-Step's own Declercq, understandably tired after his efforts to drive the move earlier on.

Only the strongest survived, Gilbert and Terpstra led, while Gaudin, Van der Sande and Kirsch followed, building out 46 seconds on the dropped riders and 1:15 ahead of the field with 50km (2 laps) remaining.

Terpstra and Gilbert pushed hard over the cobblestones, often moving over to the dirt gutters for fast, smooth pedalling, and their efforts eventually shed Van der Sande and Kirsch.

Van der Sande and Kirsch tried desperately to regain contact with the trio. Reinforcement arrived as defending champion Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty Groupe -Gobert), who wasn't willing to hand over the race to Quick-Step, along with Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) and Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale), latched on. By that time, however, the gap to the leaders had swelled to an almost unbridgeable 50 seconds.

Trapped in the uncomfortable position of not wanting to help his Quick-Step rivals but wanting to reap some small reward for his huge effort, Gaudin swapped equal pulls with Terpstra and Gilbert on the last lap.

Quick-Step's inevitable attack on Gaudin began inside 15km to go; first, Gilbert went, and then it only took one counter attack from Terpstra to break the Frenchman. Gaudin conceded the first place prize to Terpstra, and then second to Gilbert, but he kept the third place - a small reward for such a big effort. 

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