Aerts wins Soudal Classics

Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea) won the Soudal Classics on Sunday. He crossed the finish line with a solo victory 14 seconds ahead of Tom Meeusen (Telenet Fidea) and 1:17 ahead of Vincent Baestaens (BKCP-Corendon). 

"Through my first gear (lap) I immediately felt that I had good legs," Aerts told Sport.be.

Aerts led for most of the men's race but he made his official winning move with two laps to go. It was a move he felt, at the time, might have been too early. "It started in the penultimate lap when I was in the lead. I maybe started too early, to think of the victory, and was not riding [technically] well. In the last lap I made another tumble. I tried as quickly as possible to get the rhythm back and the lead, that I had to keep still. I felt really strong today."

Aerts told Sport.be that he and his teammate Meeusen previewed the course ahead of the race and decided on where they would play out their tactics. "The intention was to get into the technical area and to immediately sit up front. At one point I was in the lead. I pulled through and immediately felt that I had good legs. I had no doubts. Through the speaker I heard that I had increased my lead. I set the pace and could hold it to the end, but all in all this is still an unexpected victory."

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