Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol) will wear the Belgian Drikleur after he won today’s Belgian road race championships in impressive fashion. When a strong break with three of his teammates was caught inside the final kilometre, he emerged as the fastest in the bunch sprint and beat Roy Jans (Wanty) and Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) into the minor positions.

Earlier today André Greipel became the first Lotto Belisol sprinter to secure himself a national champion’s jersey and now Jens Debusschere has secured the Belgian team its second prestigious title. The fast rider who had an impressive end to his 2013 season, took his first season victory in one of his most important races when he emerged as the fastest in the bunch sprint that decided the flat race in Wielsbeke.

However, it was no foregone conclusion that the race would come down to the predicted bunch sprint. A very strong 8-rider break with no less than 3 Lotto Belisol riders – including sprinters Kris Boeckmans and Kenny Dehaes – was still 20 seconds ahead with less than 5km to go and the Belgian team was in a perfect position.

Big favourites Omega Pharma-Quick Step had Gert Steegmans and Julien Vermote in the group but unlike Lotto Belisol, they were not confident in their escapees. In the finale they hit the front and as the game of cat and mouse started in the break, the move was neutralized inside the final kilometre.

Gianni Meersman and Nikolas Maes led Tom Boonen out but it was Debusschere who opened the sprint in the right-hand side. He quickly got a solid advantage and Boonen failed to get any closer. In fact, he had to settle for third as Roy Jans finished second after having finished very fast.

This year’s Belgian championships took place on an almost completely flat 13.9km circuit in Wielsbeke but as the riders were  set to do no less than 18 laps, the total distance of 250.2km meant  that the race was  likely to be a tough one. Furthermore, wind and rain were predicted, making things even more complicated, and most of the pre-race favourites made it clear that they didn’t expect the race to be decided in a bunch sprint.

122 riders took the start in Wielsbeke under rainy conditions and as expected, it was a true war right from the beginning. In national road race championships, team tactics are extremely important and it is a delicate affair to make sure that the right break takes off.

Already after 15 minutes of racing, 9 riders had managed to build a 48-second advantage over the peloton and it was a pretty strong group that had been allowed to take off. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Tosh van der Sande, Boris Vallee (both Lotto Belisol), Kristof Vandewalle (Trek), Jonas Rickaert (Topsport Vlaanderen), Iljo Keisse (OPQS), Kevin van Melsen (Wanty), David Boucher (FDJ) and Frederic Amorison (Wallonie) composed the move that had representation from all the major teams.

Pieter Serry (OPQS), Arthur Vanoverberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Antoine Demoitie (Wallonie) set off in pursuit and they managed to make the junction after 20km of racing. At that point the 12 leaders were 1.15 ahead but at the end of the third lap, their advantage had grown to 4.36.

Frederik Backaert (Wanty) tried to bridge the gap on his own but that was a futile attempt. Instead, his Wanty team took control of the peloton to keep the gap stable for a while.

After 90 minutes of racing, the peloton split in a windy section, with a 39-rider group separating itself from the main peloton. After a little while, the two groups merged again but the injection of pace had brought the gap down to 3 minutes.

The advantage continued to come down and after 80km of racing, it was down to just 2.43. The first two hours were done at an average speed of an impressive 45.4kph, setting the scene for a very tough race.

With 100km to go, the gap had come down to 1.25 as OPQS had now taken control with Serge Pauwels and Kevin De Weert and they continued to ride hard. When the gap had dropped to less than a minute, the escapees started to attack each other, with van der Sande launching the first two moves.

In the peloton, Wanty suddenly hit the front with several riders and the gap was now melting away. The break split in two as Keisse, Vandewalle, Vallee and Boucher failed to respond to an attack from Demoitie while the attacking also started from the peloton.

Jan Bakelants (OPQS), Dehaes, Vermote and Bjorn Leukemans (Wanty) launched the first move but just as they bridged the gap to the leaders, it had all come back together. Vermote launched an immediate attack and he was joined by van der Sande, his teammate Steegmans, the Topsport duo of Jelle Wallays and Stijn Steels and Stig Broeckx (Lotto Belisol) to form a 6-rider group.

Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) and Dehaes were the first to bridge the gap and when Boeckmans bridged across, a 9-rider group had formed. They worked well together to build up a gap while behind Wanty and Wallonie were combining forces in the chase.

Despite their best efforts, the two teams continued to lose time and the gap reached 1.15. For a long time, it stayed around that mark in a hard battle between the two groups.

Stijn Devolder (Trek) launched a few attacks but failed to get clear while up ahead van der Sande fell off the pace after a long day on the attack. With 27km to go, BMC took over the pace-setting in the peloton but soon after the attacking started, with Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Laurens de Vreese (Wanty) and a Verandas rider all making moves.

Wallonie and Wanty went back to work inside the final 20km but as soon as they crossed the line to start the final lap, Gilbert launched his expected attack. He was closely marked by Meersman though and failed to get clear.

In the break, Broeckx launched the first attack and Steegmans had to ride hard to bring him back. When he was back in the fold, Vanmarcke was the next to try and he stayed clear for a quite a while before hard work by Broeckx brought him back.

In the peloton, Bjorn Leukemans (Wanty), Jasper Suyven (Trek), Jens Keukeleire (Orica) and Maxime Vantomme (Roubaix) were among the many riders to attack but none of them managed to get clear. With 5km to go, OPQS hit the front with Jan Bakelants and now the gap started to come down.

As the game of cat and mouse started, Vermote launched an attack and from there he hit the front to set up Steegmans for the sprint. Meanwhile, his teammates were riding hard in the peloton and with less than 1km to go, the break was caught. Hence, it all came down to a sprint where Debusschere emerged as the strongest.

As he hasn’t been selected for the Tour de France, Debusschere won’t get the chance to wear his jersey for the next few weeks.