Luka Mezgec didn’t take long in getting up to speed after a near three week break from racing as he once again showed his fast finishing speed at the one-day Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen in Belgium.

Luka Mezgec was one of a few sprint options for Team Giant-Shimano on the day but with Jonas Ahlstrand getting himself into the race’s main breakaway the bunch sprint was down to Luka and after being set up well by the team he nearly pulled off the win on the line, only being bested by Arnaud Démare (FDJ).

The early part of the day saw relentless attacking at the front of the bunch with breaks coming and going but no real breaks establishing themselves, and it wasn’t until 60km of racing where the a move finally broke the elastic.

It was a strong group of 13, which finally established themselves at the front of the race and here Team Giant-Shimano had Jonas Ahlstrand covering their interests. This took the pressure off the chase behind, as the gap stretched to over three minutes.

The peloton behind wasn’t keen on letting these riders get too far ahead and the bunch was soon strung out in pursuit of the leaders – with 96km to go the gap was down to 1’20″. Jonas lost contact with the front group as they started to attack one another, and this led to a response from the team behind, picking up the chase together with other teams. From here on the chances of the break looked doomed.

The racing did go down to the wire though with a couple of the final escapees staying clear until the last few kilometres, but it was a large group that came speeding into Koolskamp for a fast finish to decide this year’s winner.

Tom Veelers was the last man with Luka, positioning him in the wheel of Démare in the final kilometre, after which Luka gave his all in the sprint finish, just being out-paced to the line by the Frenchman.

After the race, coach Addy Engels said:

“It was close at the end, really close. It was a good day for us though. Jonas did a good job getting in the break, which meant that for the hardest part of the chase behind we could save ourselves,” Engels said to the Giant-Shimano website.

“Then when Jonas was back in the bunch we started chasing and the guys did a good job, with Stammie [Tom Stamsnijder] especially strong on the front to bring the race back together. At the end Tom V put Luka at the front in position and Luka came up just short at the finish.”

Luka Mezgec added:

“It was a hard day, a hard parcours with a lot of corners which means a lot of accelerations. I suffered a bit in the heat today too and with 18 or 19 days without racing I was fresh but you lack a bit of speed still.”

“In the end the boys did an incredible job to put me in the wheel of Démare but I think that I waited a bit too long. We both threw our bikes for the line but I knew that he had got it, only by around 30cm though.”

“It’s good to have these two races [together with tomorrow's Classic Impanis] before the Worlds next week to get me back up to speed and I am feeling good now,” he said.