Two weeks after taking his first professional win, Dylan Groenewegen (Roompot) confirmed his potential as a top sprinter when he emerged as the strongest in a wet edition of the Brussels Cycling Classic. In an extremely close sprint, he was finally declared the winner after a photo finish that saw a disappointed Roy Jans (Wanty) have to settle for second, with Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) completing the podium.

 

The new Roompot team spent more than half a year in the pro peloton before they finally managed to open their account. Like so often before, it seems that it was just a case of getting some momentum before the results started to come much quicker.

 

Maurits Lammertink and Dylan Gronewegen won races on the same day 15 days ago to open the account and today the latter confirmed his status as a future top sprinter when he won one of the biggest autumn race, the Brussels Cycling Classic. However, it took some time for him to get the chance to celebrate as Roy Jans was initially declared the winner after a very close sprint.

 

It had been the usual aggressive race on the narrow, hilly roads around Brussels but with 8km to go, Trek and Etixx-QuickStep neutralized a late two-rider move. This as the signal for Etixx-QuickStep to take complete control. Julien Vermote and Lukasz Wisniowski set the pace until a Wallonie rider made a failed attack with 6km to go.

 

Etixx-QuickStep again took control while Cofidis lined up their train in the other side of the road. They lost the battle though as it was Stijn Vandenbergh who hit the front in a roundabout 4.5km from the finish.

 

The Belgian set the pace until 3.5km remained where Vermote took over. Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) sprinted past him but had none of his teammates behind him.

 

Vemote was back on the front with 2.5km to go and finally ended his work one kilometre later. That was the signal for Julian Alaphilippe to kick into action and he led the peloton under the flamme rouge with Michal Kwiatkowski, Yves Lampaert, Fabio Sabatini on his wheel.

 

World champion Kwiatkowski took over while the rest of the sprinters battled hard for position behind them. Next it was Lampaert but the Etixx train was passed by Jans who launched a long sprint. Boonen tried to respond but it came down to an extremely close battle between the Wanty sprinter and Groenewegen.

 

The pair went head to head and it was the Dutchman who celebrated when he crossed the line. It was Jans who was first declared the winner and Groenewegen was left with a big disappointment. However, his mood changed completely when the jury changed the results after having studied the photo finish closer and it was finally the Dutchman who was awarded the win. Boonen had to settle for third.

 

Many of the riders in today’s race will be back in action tomorrow at the GP de Fourmies in France. The race is slightly hillier, is part of the Coupe de France race series and traditional the revenge match after the race in Brussels. The next major Belgian race is the GP de Wallonie on September 16.

 

A new course

The 2015 edition of the Brussels Cycling Classic was held on a 200.8km course around the city of Brussels. Compared to recent years, the route has been changed and there were no circuits. The riders followed mostly flat roads with a total of 13 hellingen along the way, most of them in the second half of the race. The final three climbs came between the 49km and 39km to go marks and from there it was a mostly flat run back to Brussel where the tradition uphill finishing straight welcomed the riders.

 

It was a cloudy but relatively calm day in Brussels when the riders gathered for the start. As usual, there were lots of attacks in the early part of the race and it took some time for the break to be formed.

 

Five riders get clear

Finally, the elastic snapped when Daniil Fominykh (Astana), Alessandro Malaguti (Nippo), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen, Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty) and Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) got clear. At the 40km mark, they had an advantage of 3.10.

 

However, the gap never became much bigger than that and when they entered the final 90km, they were still only 3.25 ahead. In the peloton, a strong alliance between the sprint teams had formed as Lukasz Wisniowski (Etixx-QuickStep) was riding on the front with Chun Kai Feng (Lampre-Merida) and Steve Morabito (FDJ). There even was a bit of help from a Giant-Alpecin rider.

 

An organized chase

A Cibel rider briefly lent to the chase but most of the work was left to Boonen’s, Modolo’s and Demare’s team. With 80km to go, the gap was already down to 2.00 and the situation was completely under control while light rain started to fall.

 

While Tom Leezer (LottoNL-Jumbo) quickly rejoined the peloton after a small crash, Feng ended his day and instead Mario Costa (Lampre-Merida) started to work. Etixx-QuickStep decided to take a breather and so it was Morabito and Costa who set the pace when the peloton entered the final 65km 1.30 behind the five leaders. There was no big stress and so Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) and Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) easily rejoined the peloton after mechanicals.

 

The peloton gets nervous

The escapees clearly upped the pace and so the peloton started to chase harder. Cedric Pineau took over from Morabito and Feng came back to take more turns while the fight for position started but the gap was still 1.20 with 55km to go.

 

As they went up the Chaussee d’Alsemberg climb, the peloton got significantly more nervous and riders were getting dropped as the big teams were all fighting for position on the front. Etixx-QuickStep were leading the line, with Julien Vermote setting a fast pace.

 

Gallopin attacks

Giant-Alpecin won the battle and led the peloton onto the Alsemberg climb where Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) launched an immediate attack. He was joined by Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty) and Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen) and later Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep), Stefan Schumacher (CCC) and another two riders also made the junction. Further up the road, the front group was splitting up as Delfosse and Fominykh were dropped.

 

Schumacher was keen to drive the pace but his group was brought back as soon as they reached the top 45 seconds behind the leaders. The front group reformed while Gallopin briefly set the pace in the peloton.

 

Gallopin tries again

Fabio Felline (Trek) was the next to try an attack before Gallopun went again on the Bruineput. Howeverm he was closely marked by Felline, Bjorn Leukemans (Wanty), Kwiatkowski and the rest of the peloton and so he failed to get clear. Meanwhile, riders were getting dropped and Kittel was at the rear end of the peloton.

 

Malaguti had attacked on the climb and only Wallays had been able to match his speed. The chase trio was quickly brought back as Kwiatkowski, Gasparotto, Felline, Gallopin and Dennis Vanendert (Lotto Soudal) were all active on the front without managing to get clear.

 

Kittel is dropped

Romain Feillu (Bretagne) suffered a very untimely puncture while Wallays and Malaguti hit the final climb with 39km to go. Here it was Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty) who attacked from the peloton but he was easily brought back by Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) who rode hard until Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) took off. Kwiatkowski and Barguil were quick to join him.

 

The fast pace was too much for Kittel who was dropped while the three attackers caught the front duo. A few riders, including one from CCC tried to bridge the gap, but Wanty quickly took control and brought everything back together with 36km to go.

 

Vanmarcke rides aggressively

Etixx-QuickStep patrolled the front when a rider from Roompot and one from Southeast took off. Daan Myngheer (Verandas Willems) and Vanmarcke tried to bridge the gap but as they had the rest of the peloton in tow, it was again back together and the next attack from Veuchelen and Vanmarcke didn’t work either.

 

Eugenio Alafacii started to control the race for Trek but it was Vermote who neutralized an attempt from a Verandas rider. In general, Etixx-QucikStep rode very defensively as Julian Alaphilippe and Stijn Vandenbergh neutralized offensives from Roompot and Verandas Willems.

 

Backaert takes off

Alafaci rode on the front until Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen) and a Roompot rider escaped. Vanendert joined them but Vermote brought them back with 30km to go. Alafaci set a controlling pace and when Frederik Backaert (Wanty) attacked, he let the Belgian get an advantage.

 

In the peloton, Europcar took control and they quickly got assistance from Vermote and Alafaci. They kept Backaert at 10 seconds and easily brought back an attempt to bridge across. Meanwhile, Kitteel abandoned and Barguil was dropped.

 

Myngheer bridged the gap

With 20km to go, the gap was down to 5 seconds and this made it possible for Myngheer to bridge the gap. The pair managed to extend their advantage to 10 seconds while Europcar stopped their work and left it to Calvin Watson (Trek), Vermote and Wisniowski to set the pace.

 

With 13km to go, the gap had gone out to 20 seconds and it was now raining heavily.  As Vermote took a strong turn on a narrow road, it was again down to 10 seconds as they entered the final 10km. Two kilometres later it was over for the escapees and from there it was Etixx-QuickStep in complete control.