For the second year in a row, Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol) ended the season in the perfect way when he won the Nationale Sluitingsprijs, the final road race of the European season. When the race came down to a bunch sprint, the Belgian held off Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen) in a photo finish while his teammate Jonas Vangenechten made it two Lotto Belisol riders on the podium.

Two days ago Jens Debusschere narrowly missed out on a victory when he won the bunch sprint for third in Paris-Tours. Today he finally took the elusive win when he defended his title in the Nationale Sluitingsprijs that traditionally ends the European road racing season.

The flat race is usually decided in a bunch sprint but after a very fast edition, the sprint teams were on their limit in the finale. A dangerous late attack by Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol) and a Giant-Shimano rider threatened to deny the sprinters their chance but inside  the final kilometre, it all came back together.

The bunch sprint ended as a very close battle between Debusschere and Tom Van Asbroeck and it took some time before the Belgian champion could be declared winner of the race. Jonas Vangenechten made it a fantastic day for Lotto Belisol as he finished on the lower step of the podium.

The 81st edition of the Nationale Sluitingsprijs that traditionally ends the Belgian and European road racing season, was held on a 179km course around the city of Putte. It consisted of 8 laps of a 22.4km circuit that was almost completely flat and the race has traditionally been decided in a bunch sprint.

It was the final race of the season but that didn’t dampen the attacking spirit in the peloton. Right from the start lots of riders tried to attack and the first promising move was made up of Kenneth Vanbilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Ludwig De Winter (Color Code-Biowanze), Mitchell Huenders (Parkhotel-Valkenburg), Arnold Fiek (Stuttgart), Sander Cordeel (Vastgoedservice) and Joren Touquet (Verandas Willems). When the peloton breathed down their neck, Cordeel and Vanbilsen attacked out of the group and while Mathias Van Holderbeke (Team Cibel), Antoine Warnier (Color Code-Biowanze) and Berden De Vries (CT Jo Piels) set off in pursuit, they fought hard to build an advantage.

The trio made the junction and when Tino Thömel (Stuttgart), Gerry Druyts (team 3M) and Loic Pestiaux (Wallonie-Bruxelles) also joined the front group, a front octet was formed. They built an advantage of 32 seconds before Pim Lightart (Lotto-Belisol), Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Shimano), Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) set off in pursuit.

The trio of WorldTour riders joined the front group and now the peloton finally slowed down. The escapees had an advantage of 3.30 after the first two laps of the circuit when a crash briefly split the peloton.

Both the peloton and the front group were riding really fast, maintaining a difference of around 3.30. It was too much for Thömel who got dropped and he was quickly absorbed by the peloton.

Despite the presence of Vanbilsen in the break, Topsport Vlaanderen led the chase as they needed points for Tom Van Asbroeck to win the individual Europe Tour. At the halfway point, they had brought the gap down to 3.02 and at this point, the peloton had been riding at an average of 45.8kph.

The peloton started to accelerate and while the advantage of the escapees started to come down, Van Holderbeke was dropped from the front group. With three laps to go, the escapees were only 2.10 ahead and on the next lap, both Warnier and Druyts were dropped from the breakaway too.

This left just 6 riders in the front group and they continued to lose ground. When the gap was 1.28, De Vries and Cordeel were the next to fall off the pace before Terpstra, Sinkeldam, Ligthart and Vanbilsen started the penultimate lap with an advantage if 1.12.

Topsport Vlaanderen were still doing all the work in the peloton but they had a hard time bringing the gap down below the one-minute mark. Finally, they succeeded and suddenly the gap melted away. Just before the riders started the final lap, it was all back together.

While Topsport Vlaanderen continued to set the pace, a few riders tried to attack from the peloton. Timo Roosen (Jo Piels), Oscar Riesebeek (Metec), Gerts (Rabobank) and Gorik Gardeyn (Veranclassic) briefly got clear but they were quickly brought back.

With 17km to go, a crash split the peloton and Stefan Poutsma (Jo Piels) exploited the confusion to attack. He managed to build an advantage of 15 seconds but when Lotto Belisol started to chase, he lost ground and he was caught with 8km to go.

Lotto now went on the attack when Kenny Dehaes accelerated with Zdenek Stybar (OPQS) and a rider for Giant-Shimano. The trio fought hard to stay clear and held off the chase of a Rabobank rider but inside the final kilometre, they were caught. It all came down to a bunch sprint where Debusschere emerged as the fastest.

After the Belgian race, there is only one race left on the European calendar in 2014. On Sunday, the time triallists will battle for glory in the Chrono des Nations time trial before all riders can definitely start their off-season.