Having been disappointed with his start to the season, Jens Debusschere enjoyed  a career-defining moment when he won today's Belgian road race championships in a bunch sprint. The Belgian was especially grateful to Jurgen Roelandts who forgot about his status as team leader and sacrificed himself for his teammate.

Lotto Belisol collected three national titles today. Jens Debusschere conquered the Belgian tricolour in Wielsbeke. A group sprint decided the victory. Before noon Jolien D'hoore had already taken the women's title. In Germany André Greipel won for the second year in a row. 

The first half of the day it was pouring in Wielsbeke, but in the afternoon the sun came out. Lotto Belisol animated the race all day. The long breakaway consisted of twelve riders with Tosh Van der Sande and Boris Vallée. Especially Wanty - Groupe Goubert chased the leaders, they got caught with about 70 kilometers to go.

A new front group was formed quickly, it counted nine riders this time. Four of them were Lotto Belisol riders: again Van der Sande, Kris Boeckmans, Stig Broeckx and Kenny Dehaes. They had an advantage of about 1'10" most of the time. After a strong race Van der Sande had to let go of his companions with two laps to go.

It looked good for the other eight until Omega Pharma - Quick-Step turned the pace up with only six kilometers left. The escapees got caught in the final kilometer. Lotto Belisol played the card of Jens Debusschere. Jürgen Roelandts did the lead-out for the almost 25-year-old Jens Debusschere, who sprinted to the victory. He beat Roy Jans and Tom Boonen. Kris Boeckmans finished on place eight. 

"I peaked for this period," he said. "After my victories at the end of last season I thought it would continue that way. I started this season well in the Tour Down Under where I replaced the injured Greg Henderson. Afterwards I struggled a bit with myself because I didn't set new strong results. But the people in the team helped me to keep calm and eventually I'm standing here today on place one, that's fantastic.

"In my first year as a pro I worked for Philippe Gilbert, that made me stronger. My second year was less good, but I was still only 22. Last year I injured my elbow in the Tour de Suisse, but luckily I had a strong last part of the season.

"In the team we had several fast guys, we didn't stand at the start with one captain today. We rode offensively. In every break we had a rider who could finish the job. When the nine took off we didn't have to chase with two fast guys in front: Kris Boeckmans and Kenny Dehaes. That was the perfect situation for us. Eventually Omega Pharma - Quick-Step led the group to the sprint.

"Until the sprint Jürgen and I could spare ourselves. The experience we have from André Greipel's train came in handy. We rode on the right side of the road to avoid the wind.

"I'm very grateful to Jürgen Roelandts that he sacrificed himself for me. With six laps to go he told me he wanted to ride for me. I'm very grateful he suggested it himself. That gave me confidence, because he has already proven more in his career.

"At Lotto Belisol guys like me can have a go in certain races. Here we can further develop. It's my dream to win Paris-Roubaix one day, but this title is already the first dream to come true. I will be more easily recognized with that jersey and there will definitely be more pressure. Lotto Belisol won three times today, I'm so happy with that. Via the Tour de Wallonie I want to prepare myself for the Vuelta."