Danny Van Poppel crossed the line in 9th after a last-ditch effort to try and catch eight leaders in the closing kilometers of the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Friday and was awarded 8th place after the jury disqualified Dylan Groenewegen (Roompot) in the finale.

Michal Golas [Etixx-Quick Step) won the 100th edition of the Championship of Flanders when Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal) was also relegated by race jury for an illegal sprint.

Normally a sprinters’ race, the 198-kilometer predominantly flat parcours altered from it’s expected field finish when the skies opened and rain pounded down in the closing laps of the 12-kilometer circuit and when a strong and dangerous nine-man group formed after Team Lotto-Soudal accelerated and split the peloton.

With three laps still to race the chase was on. Trek Factory Racing led the pursuit, but with only two teammates to pull, the gap held close - drawing within 10 seconds at one point – but never eliminated.  When Fumy Beppu hit the deck on the rain-soaked roads, it quickly became apparent the leaders – now down to eight - would not be caught, and Danny van Poppel jumped away to try and close it alone.

“There was a breakaway with nine riders and we were not represented, so we were reacting by chasing, and I think we may have caught the leaders if Fumy [Beppu] had not crashed,” explained director Dirk Demol.

“Fumy crashed while he was pulling full gas, lucky he crashed alone and he was okay and will be able to race tomorrow.

“We missed one or two guys in the final to help chase - it was always 20 seconds, 25, 18, 14, 18…the peloton was split into three parts because it was heavy rain again in the last part – 3 hours okay and then heavy rain in the last hour – and we could not catch the leaders. Then Danny was trying to go across alone and I think he finished 100 meters behind the nine.”

As the leaders contested the sprint, Van Poppel came across the line seconds later to secure a disappointing 8th place. The teamwork was solid as always, but Trek Factory Racing missed a little firepower when the hammer fell and the race blew apart in the wind and rain with around 40 kilometers to go.

“If we had two guys more at the end we could have more [than 8th], but it is what it is,” continued Demol. “Kristof [Vandewalle] did a lot of early work to control the early breakaway of six. But afterward we lost two early in Calvin Watson and Fabio Silvestre and Laurent Didier was not feeling good today so we were down to four. We needed to save two guys for when it comes to a sprint., so Eugenio [Alafaci] and Fumy were giving it their best, they pulled super hard and did a great job, but they could not bring it back and then when Fumy crashed it was over.”