Kris Boeckmans showed himself yesterday by joining a breakaway in Dwars door Vlaanderen. Today's winner was Niki Terpstra who arrived solo in Waregem. In the peloton sprint Jens Debusschere rode to the sixth place.

 

Only after about 65 kilometers the groundwork was laid for a long breakaway. Lotto Belisol rider Kris Boeckmans, who rode his first race after he incurred a minor concussion in Paris-Nice, jumped away with Vanbilsen and Vanlandschoot.

 

First Millar bridged, afterwards nineteen others followed. That way a front group was formed of 23, they got over three minutes lead. Movistar and Orica GreenEdge weren't represented in the front of the race and they led the chase.

 

In the peloton Jens Debusschere rode very attentively in the hill section and after the Taaienberg he accelerated for a moment. A bit further some escapees were caught, among them Boeckmans. Then Boeckmans did some work in the peloton.

 

On the Paterberg also the last leaders were reeled in. Next Niki Terpstra set up a solo and no-one would see him again. The peloton sprinted for place two. Tyler Farrar was the fastest ahead of Borut Bozic. Jens Debusschere finished sixth.

 

"I felt good today," Debusschere said. "I turned up the Eikenberg in the top ten. Also on the Oude Kwaremont I was well in front. That were two points I had marked as crucial.

 

"At the foot of the Paterberg I had to brake when someone stood still in front of me. That way I got behind in a second group. That was a difficult moment. But the two groups melted together. When the group of four with Devolder took off to chase Terpstra I hesitated to join them, but I thought the peloton would sprint for the second place.

 

"In the last kilometer Pim Ligthart brought me in excellent position to the last turn. I began the sprint early because I didn't want to take the risk to get closed in, but I missed some panache. In the past I already beat Tyler Farrar a few times, but I wasn't fresh enough. It's a pity I'm not on the podium, but I'm not unhappy with the result."

 

"We are partly satisfied, we have mixed feelings about this race," sports director Bart Leysen said. "It was definitely better than in 2013, when the team was nowhere.

 

"It took a long time before a group could take off. Like we had said before the start we had someone in the break, Boeckmans in this case. When nineteen riders bridged, a second man of us should have been with them.

 

"After his concussion Kris hasn't trained much yet, so it was to expect he wouldn't stay ahead very long. If we had a second rider in front, he might have been in the group of eight that was caught on the Paterberg.

 

"Lotto Belisol was always present in the first peloton with three to four riders. Pim Ligthart rode very strongly after a tough Milan-Sanremo. Jens unfortunately missed some energy at the end because he had to  set up a chase after the Paterberg."