Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen) took the biggest victory of his short career when he won today’s Dutch one-day race by attacking from a 10-rider escape in the finale. In what is traditionally a race for sprinters, the Belgian held off his chasers to cross the line in solo fashion while Michael Vingerling (3M) beat Jos Van Emden (Belkin) in the sprint for second.

After splendid rides in the classics, Yves Lampaert was rewarded for his big talent earlier this month when Omega Pharma-Quick Step announced that they had signed the young Belgian. Today he proved himself worthy of his new status as WorldTour rider when he won one of the biggest Dutch one-day races, the Arnhem-Veenendal classics.

Traditionally a race for sprinters, the race was made harder by a tougher course and torrential rain that made it difficult to keep things under control. All day, Movistar and Belkin were working to set up a bunch sprint but on the final climb a 10-rider group got clear.

All the major teams were represented in the group and this made it possible for the break to stay clear despite a lack of cooperation. With 7km to go, Lampaert launched a well-timed move and he managed to hold off his chasers to take a big solo win.

The 92th edition of the race that was renamed Arnhem-Veenendal classic after several years under the name of Dutch Food Valley Classic name, was held on a 195.7km course from Arnhem to Veenendal. The course was mostly flat but the organizers had included a few more climbs than usual to try to split the sprint race up a bit.

The race got off to a very fast start under pleasant weather conditions and it was clear that lots of riders planned to make the race hard. Lots of attacks were launched in the first part before Bert-Jan Lindeman (Rabobank) forced a selection on the first climb of the day.

The Dutchman was joined by Marco Marcato (Cannondale), Lars van der Haar (Giant-Shimano), Jim Van Den Berg (Koga), Bart Van Haaren (Koga), Stefan Poutsma (Jo Piels), Jasper Ockeloen (Parkhotel), Jasper Hamelink (Jo Piels) and Peter Koning (Metec) to form the day’s early break. The group managed to build an advantage of 3 minutes while first Movistar and later also Belkin and Wanty started to chase.

While Lindeman fought his way back from a puncture, those three teams worked together to keep the gap stable at around 3.30. With 100km to go, the race was hit by torrential rain which made the race a lot harder.

On the Grebbenberg with 83km to go, van der Haar and Poutsma were the first riders to get dropped and Belkin had now tightened their grip on the race. With Rick Flens as the driving force, the Dutch team had brought the gap down to 2.10.

With 70km to go, the peloton briefly split but things came back together. Flens continued his pace-setting for Belkin and got occasional assistance from a Topsport rider.

The gap was now down to just a minute and Pablo Lastras had joined Flens on the front. Meanwhile, the front group split up, with Van Den Berg getting a gap.

The Dutchman was joined by Van Haaren and Koning but the latter soon fell behind. With 40km to go, the  advantage was only 50 seconds and with 30km to go, the escapees were only 30 seconds ahead.

On one of the final climbs, van den Berg left Van Haaren behind but all the efforts were in vain. Under the impetus of Lastras and Flens, thing came back together.

This opened the door for new attacks, with Kristjan Koren (Cannondale) kicking off the action. However, it was Berden De Vries who opened a small advantage.

Lastras was now chasing hard for Movistar and when he needed some assistance, Jetse Bol from Belkin lend him a hand. On the final climb, however, they were unable to control the situation and suddenly a 10-rider group had gone clear.

With 12km to go, Koren, Jos Van Emden (Belkin), Dayer Quintana (Movistar), Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport), Jean-Pierre Drucker (Wanty), Jack Wilson (An Post), Martijn Budding, Ivar Slik (both Rabobank), Tim Gebauer (Stölting), Michael Vingerling (3M) and Yves Lampaert (Topsport) were 25 seconds ahead of the peloton. All the major teams had a rider in the front group and even though the escapees didn’t cooperate well, they started to increase their advantage.

The escapees started to attack each other and with 7km to go, Lampaert got a gap. Van Emden tried to bridge across but the Belkin rider was brought back.

The escapees were constantly attacking each and as no chase got organized, Lampaert held on to take a big solo win. In the finale, Van Emden and Vingerling escaped, with the latter winning the sprint for second.

Many of the riders in this race will be back in action on Sunday when the WorldTour one-day racing resumes with the Vattenfall Cyclassics.