Dries De Bondt (Veranda’s Willems) emerged as an outsider for Sunday’s Belgian Championships as he took a surprise win in the traditional dress rehearsal at Halle-Ingooigem. Having made it into a 10-rider group, he escaped with Jens Keukeleire (Belgium) in the finale and then beat his WorldTour rival in a sprint to take the biggest win of his career. Edward Theuns made it two riders from the national team on the podium as he won the four-rider sprint for third.

Last year Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) delivered a major surprise at the Belgian Championships as he claimed the coveted Drikleur jersey by beating Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal) in a two-rider sprint. This year another surprise could be in store as an outsider has emerged.

The one-day race Halle-Ingooigem traditionally serves at the dress rehearsal for the Championships and has usually been an affair for the sprinters.  However, the likes of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Arnaud Demare (FDJ), Fernando Gaviria (Etixx-QuickStep) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) were all denied as Dries De Bondt took a surprise win.

De Bondt had already shown himself in recent weeks, most notably at last year’s Ronde l’Oise where he on a stage and finished 8th overall, and at the Heistse Pijl where he finished 8th after a very aggressive showing. Today he was again on the attack with several WorldTour riders and this time he managed to surprise the stars.

De Bondt was attentive when 10 riders escaped in the second half of the race and he found himself in formidable company as he was up against Jens Keukeleire, Stijn Devolder, Edward Theuns (all from the Belgian national team), Dimitri Claeys (Wanty), Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Soudal), Jens Adams (Crelan),  Gianni Marcand (Cibel) and Nikolas Maes (Etixx-QuickStep). As Cofidis played a strange game of poker and most of the WorldTour teams had riders in the front, it was left to FDJ, Topsport Vlaanderen, An Post, Wallonie and Avanti to do the hard work to bring the group back. In the finale, Lotto Soudal realized that Vanendert had little chance against the faster riders and so they also started to chase.

At the start of the final lap of the 17.3km circuit, the gap was only one minute and it hadn’t changed when they hit the Hellestraat climb. Here Lotto Soudal changed strategy as they tried to send Tosh van der Sande across to the break. He was joined by a Veranda’s Willems rider but the pair never got much of an advantage as Etixx-QuickStep started to chase immediately. Pieter Serry quickly neutralized the move and then the group came to a standstill.

The attack had brought the gap down to 30 seconds but it started to grow as soon as the peloton slowed down. FDJ reacted quickly as Yoann Offredo returned to the front and kept the gap at 40 seconds as they approached the final passage of the Tiegemberg.

As soon as they hit the climb, Keukeleire attacked hard and split the group as only De Bondt, Vanendert, Maes, Theuns and Claeys could follow. The Belgian kept riding on the front for his teammate Theuns and so the gap had gone out to 1.05 with 8km to go.

Devolder and Marchand were the first to be caught as Sebastien Chavanel (FDJ), Lars Bak, Gert Dockx (Lotto Soudal) and Tim Declercq (Topsport) again started to chase but their work did not pay off. 5km from the finish, the gap had gone out to 1.15 and it was clear that the sprinters would be denied.

As soon as they passed the 5km to go banner, Keukeleire attacked again and this time only De Bondt could follow. As the chasers failed to cooperate, they immediately got a big gap.

Etixx-QuickStep decided that they wanted to go for the sprint with Fernando Gaviria as they gathered the team on the front and started to ride hard with Stijn Vandenbergh. However, as the gap was still 1.10 with 2km to go, it was evidently too late.

Passing the flamme rouge, the game of cat and mouse started and the front duo almost came to a standstill. Luckily they had time to play the game as the chasers weren’t cooperating either.

Keukeleire was the first rider under the flamme rouge but he managed to persuade De Bondt to come through for another turn. Confident in his sprint, Keukeleire launched from afar but he had clearly underestimated his rival. De Bondt easily came around and had plenty of time to celebrate the biggest win of his career. Theuns won the sprint for third 13 seconds later while Fernando Gaviria beat Arnaud Demare (FDJ) when the peloton sprinted for 7th place.

With Halle-Ingooigem done and dusted, the attention turns to the national championships which are held during the next four days in most European countries. The next major international event in Belgium is the GP Cerami which will take place on June 20.

A lumpy course

The 2016 edition of the Halle-Ingooigem was held on a very traditional 200.5km course. The first 104.9km saw the riders get from the start in Halle to the finish in Ingooigem. Along the way, they tackled the Kanarieberg, Kruisberg, Hotondberg, Knokteberg and Tiegemberg. Then they did one lap of a 25km circuit that included the climbs of Hellestraat, Tiegemberg and Holstraat. The final part of the race consisted of four laps of a 17.7km circuit with the former two climbs. However, the rest of the course was predominantly flat and the final climb came 11.3km from the finish.

It was a sunny summer day when the riders gathered for the start in Halle, and they were clearly eager to test the form prior to the national championships. Right from the start, there were lots of attacks and it took a while before two riders got clear. Sam Chrome (Avanti) and Conor McConvey (An Post) initially managed to escape and were later joined by Edward Theuns (Belgium), Frederik Backaert (Wanty), Sander Cordeel (Veranda's Willems), Xandro Meurisse ( Crelan), Dieter Vanhourenhout (Marlux) and Gaetan Pons (Wallonie).

A very strong group gets clear

After 72km of racing, the group had built a lead of 2.45, but the field was not intent on letting the race settle into a rhythm. Aggressive riding meant that the group was caught, and instead no less than 37 riders escaped. The group included names like Tom Boonen (Team Quick Step), Jens Debusschere, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal), Arnaud Demare (FDJ), Oliver Naesenand Edward Theuns (Belgium), and they soon got a lead of one minute.

Wallonie had missed the move and so started to chase. Their work paid off as the dangerous group was brought back before they entered the final 100km. Instead, William Clarke (Drapac) took off in a solo attack and while the attacking continued in the peloton, he managed to get a solid advantage.

10 riders escape

The attacking allowed Nikolas Maes (Etixx-QuickStep), Jelle Vanendert (Lotto), Jens Keukeleire, Stijn Devolder, Edwad Theuns (Belgien), Dries De Bondt (Veranda's), Gianni Marchand (Cibel), Dimitri Claeys (Wanty) and Jens Adams (Crelan) to bridge the gap to the lone Australian and so a 10-rider group had gathered with an advantage of 20 seconds. However, there was no chance to rest in the peloton as constant attacks were launched. Yoann Offredo (FDJ) and Rayane Bouhanni (Cofidis) took off in pursuit of the 10 leaders and were soon joined by Laurens Sweeck (Era). However, they had no luck and when they were brought back, the bunch briefly slowed down.

When the attacking started again, the gap had gone out to 45 seconds and this prompted Thomas Sprengers (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) to organize a chase. Riding in support of Bert Van Lerberghe and Baptiste Planckaert respectively, the two teams started to trade pulls on the front but nonetheless the gap had gone out to a 1.25 as they finished their lap of the 25km circuit that preceded the four laps of the final loop.

FDJ come to the fore

Delfosse quickly disappeared from the front and left it to Sprengers to single-handledly lead the peloton. The chase was disorganized though and when his teammate Stijn Steels tried to up the pace, he got an unintended gap and had to slow down to wait for the rest of the group.

When the gap had gone out to almost two minutes, FDJ lost the tactical battle with Cofidis and asked Marc Sarreau to lend Topsport a hand. Avanti also came to the fore, asking two riders to trade pulls with Sarreau, Steels and Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen). Those four riders kept the gap stable at two minutes as they crossed the line at the end of the first lap.

The gap comes down

The hard work started to pay off and as they hit the Tiegemberg for the fourth time, the gap had dropped to 1.45. However, the chasers started to blow up and as they entered the final 40km, it was only Sarreau and Sean Lake (Avanti) doing the work. This prompted Wallonie to again lend a hand and at the end of the second lap, Oliver Kent-Spark (An Post) was also taking turns on the front.

The smaller teams disappeared from the front and left it to Declercq and Sarreau to do the work as they passed the 30km to go banner. Their work was paying off though as the gap had dropped to 1.20.

Lotto Soudal start to chase

Sarreau swung off as they went up the Tiegemberg for the penultimate time and instead Yoann Offredo took over for the French team. He took a huge turn and then left it to a rider from An Post, Delfosse, Declercq and another Wallonie rider to continue the chase.

With 20km to go, Lotto Soudal realized that Jelle Vanendert had little chance to win in a flat race like this so they asked their Belgian rider to stop working in the front. At the same time, Lars Bak and Gert Dockx hit the front in the peloton and started to cooperate with the Gaetan Pons (Wallonie), the An Post riders  and Declercq from Topsport Vlaanderen. Moments later, they crossed the finish line for the penultimate time but it was too late as De Bondt managed to claim a surprise win.