Jan Bakelants (Ag2r) continued the dream end to his season by taking the biggest classics win of his career in the Giro dell’Emilia. On a soaking wet day in Italy, he attacked on the descent from the San Luca climb with less than 30km to go, bridged across to Andrea Fedi (Southeast) and Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) and finally launched a successful bid for victory less than one kilometre from the top of the final passage of San Luca. Fedi took second and Madrazo third.

It took a long time for Jan Bakelants to take his first win in Ag2r colours but now he has really got the ball rolling. After he showed great form in the Canadian one-day races, he has been unstoppable and today he took his second win for the team in the Giro dell’Emilia.

Bakelants came up short in the GP de Wallonie where he was a marked man and had to settle for second despite being the strongest rider. However, he finally opened his account in GranPiemonte where he surprised the sprinters by launching a strong solo attack in a very wet finale.

Apparently, Bakelants likes the rainy conditions in Italy as he made use of more bad weather to take his second big win in Emilia. The Belgian used the slippery and technical descent from the landmark climb of San Luca to get clear and then joined the duo of Andrea Fedi and Angel Madrazo who had attacked a bit earlier. The peloton would never see the trio again and Bakelants finally took the win when he accelerated with less than one kiloemetre left of the final passage of the steep slopes.

"I remember the first time I raced here, in 2010, I suffered a lot and I was 42nd," he told Spaziociclismo. "I wanted to go back, but I never found a team that did this race. I came back in a beautiful way. 

"Today I felt confident in myself , thanks to the victory in Piedmont. I was among the favorites and when we made ​​the long climb, I told the team to accelerate on the descent to put others into difficulty. In the circuit Madrazo and Fedi attacked immediately. Matteo ( Montaguti, ed ) pulled for a lap and a half, but I saw that we gained nothing, and I thought it was better to attach to reach the front duo."