One week after winning Omloop van Het Houtland, Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) continued his excellent run of success by winning the first stage of the Tour de l’Eurometropole. After a great lead-out by Lotto Soudal, he held off Raymond Kreder (Roompot) and Timothy Dupont (Roubaix) in the bunch sprint while Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r) defended the overall lead.

Jens Debusschere first really proved his potential in the autumn of 2013 when a fantastic late-season form allowed him to win the Tour de l’Eurometropole overall, Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen and Nationale Sluitingsprijs. Since then, he has developed into some kind of an autumn specialist as he was second in last year’s Tour de l’Eurometropole and third in Binche-Chimay-Binche and Paris-Tours before he defended his title in the Nationale Sluitingsprijs.

This year he has proved his status as one of the best riders at this time of the year. After an impressive climbing performance in the Tour of Britain, he has won the GP Wallonie and Omloop van Het Houtland and he would even have won the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen too if he hadn’t been relegated for irregular sprinting.

Those results had marked him out as the man to beat in the bunch sprints in this week’s Tour de l’Europemetropole and he didn’t disappoint in his first opportunity. The former Belgian champion finished off a great lead-out by Lotto Soudal by winning the sprint at the end of the first stage.

The largely flat course ended with three laps of a 19.7km circuit and as they started the penultimate lap, there was a big acceleration in the peloton which meant that the early break was already caught with 30km to go. This opened the door for new attacks and it was a strong group with Olivier Le Gac (FDJ), Pim Lightart (Lotto-Soudal), Ludwig De Winter (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Giuseppe Fonzi (Southeast), Jan Dieteren (Leopard Development Team) and Emiel Wastyn (Verandas Willems) that escaped with 24km to go.

At the start of the final lap, Ligthart beat Le Gac and Wallays in the final intermediate sprint while the peloton followed at 15 seconds. With 15km to go, they had extended their advantage to 25 seconds.

The gap started to come down and so the front group accelerated. Hence, Fonzi, De Winter and Dieteren were dropped and caught by the peloton.

Le Gac, Wallays, Ligthart, Van Melse and Wastyn still had a 22-second advantage with 6km to go but as the sprint trains started to line up, they lost ground. As they entered the final 5km, it was all back together.

With 3km to go, Jay Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka) tried to make a surprise attack but he never got much of an advantage as Lotto Soudal had now taken complete control. They gave Debusschere the perfect lead-out and the former Belgian champion managed to beat Raymond Kreder and Timpthy Dupont into the minor podium positions.

Alexis Gougeard finished safely in the bunch and so defended his three-second lead over Martijn Keizer (LottoNL-Jumbo) as he goes into what is likely to be the hardest road stage of the race. After a flat first part, stage 2 ends with four laps of a finishing circuit that includes the tough Zandberg, Rodeberg and Zwarteberg climbs. However, the final climb comes 14km from the finish and from there it is mainly flat.

A flat stage

After the opening prologue, the Tour de l’Eurometropole continued with a 167.1km stage that brought the riders from La Loviere to Chievres. After a flat first part, the riders tackled five smaller climbs at the midpoint before they got back into flat terrain for the finale. The stage ended with three laps of a flat 19.7km finishing circuit.

It was another sunny day in Belgium when the riders gathered for the start. Marco Haller (Katusha) and Elie Gesbert (FDJ) didn’t take the start.

Six riders get clear

The stage got off to a fast start with lots of attacks and this was too much for Zico Waeytens (Giant-Alpecin) who abandoned at the 7km mark due to knee pain. Three kilometres later the first significant move with Tom Bohli (BMC Racing Team), Maxim Belkov (Team Katusha), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Nic Dougall (MTN-Qhubeka), Berden De Vries (Team Roompot Oranje Peloton), Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis) and Gregory Habeaux (Wallonie-Bruxelles) for clear but they were brought back at the 10km mark.

Instead, Thomas Wertz (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Jayde Julius (MTN-Qhubeka) and Arthur Vanoverberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) escaped and they were joined by Simone Antonini (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Christophe Prémont (Verandas Willems) and Alexander Geuens (Vastgoedservice-Golden Palace) to form a six-rider break. At the 20km mark, they had an advantage of 28 seconds and as the peloton slowed down, they had 1.45 four kilometres later.

Solo move by Premont

After 30km of racing, the gap had gone out to 3 minutes and it had gone out to more than four minutes when they hit the first climb. Here Premont attacked to pick up maximum points, followed by Wertz, Vanoverberghe and Antonini.

The Belgian continued to press on and so also won the first intermediate sprint, followed by Geuens and Vanoverberghe. At this point, he was 20 seconds ahead and with 112km to go, he had pressed it out to 35 seconds while the peloton followed at 4.20.

Lots of points for Premont

Premont continued to extend his advantage which was 4 seconds when he won the second KOM sprint ahead of Vanoverberghe, Wertz and Antonini. He also took maximum points in the third KOM sprint, with Wertz, Antonini and Vanoverberghe being next across the line.

With 100km to go, Premont had an advantage of 57 seconds while the peloton was at 4.20. Moments later he won the fourth KOM sprint ahead of Vanoverberghe, Wertz and Geuens.

Premont waits for his chasers

With the KOM points in his pocket and a long flat section before the final KOM sprint, Premont waited for his chasers and the six-rider group entered the final 88km with an advantage of 3.15. Five kilometres later, it was already down to 2.30.

Premont beat Vanoverberghe, Antonini and Geuens in the final KOM sprint. Meanwhile, Ag2r and Lotto Soudal led the chase as they hit the finishing circuit.

Tinkoff-Saxo split the field

Victor Campenaerts (Topsport) abandoned the race while a sudden acceleration in the peloton sent 20 riders out the back door. Another 20-rider group was also tailed off before they crossed the finish line for the first time.

It was Tinkoff-Saxo doing the damage and they had brought the gap down to 1.50. It was too much for Barry Markus (LottoNL) who abandoned the race.

With 55km to go, the gap was already down to just 1.10 and it was only 58 seconds as they entered the final 50km. Geuens beat Premont and Julius in the intermediate sprint at the second passage of the line after the peloton had slowed down a bit, with Tinkoff-Saxo and LottoNL controlling the pace 1.50 behind. Moments later, the peloton accelerated again and quickly brought the breakaway back to set the scene for the aggressive finale.