Dries De Bondt (Veranda’s Willems) took a surprise win in the traditional dress rehearsal for th Belgian Championships at Halle-Ingooigem. Having made it into a 10-rider group, he escaped with Jens Keukeleire (Belgium) in the finale and then beat his WorldTour rival in a sprint to take the biggest win of his career. Edward Theuns made it two riders from the national team on the podium as he won the four-rider sprint for third.

We have gathered a few reactions.

Dries De Bondt: Keukeleire was clearly the strongest

"Jens was undoubtedly the stronger of the two of us,” Dries De Bondt told Het Nieuwsblad. “I was lucky as I could follow him when he attaced five kilometers from the finish. I was told from the team car that we quickly had fifteen seconds. I then just did my part of the job as a second place in this race certainly would be good to have on the palmares. I had only one fright and that was that Jens would drop me on the last uphill section so I tried to keep something in reserve.

"Keukeleire launched a strong sprint but I did not give up and squeezed out everything that was still in my legs. I passed Keukeleire and could hold that position. All I had to do was to keep giving everything all the way to the finish.

"This win feels great. At the end of 2014 I had an accident in France. I was severely injured. I even spent two weeks in a coma and I am happy that I have recoveed.That incident motivated me to keep doing more. I'm so happy with this victory.  This is the first 1.1 race I win in my career and it is my best victory ever.

“I get up every day telling me that I have the chance to further evolve at this level but during the race I do not think about the accident. I do not have good memories. I try to forget this bad part of my life.

“The ability to recover is my greatest strength. I saw him launch and thought ‘Dries, pass him.’

"I was completely burnt at the start of that last kilometer. However, we had a good advantage and we started to slow down. I was able to recover slightly for a few seconds and that's probably what allowed me to sprint to victory.

“He got two bike lengths. I started at that time and then I saw that I was coming back gradually. And I thought, ' Well, I still have the strength to pass him'. Then I gave everything. I got one or two meters. I hesitated for a moment but finally I managed to stay there until the end.

"After Heistse Pijl [where he was 8th] I had some regrets. Today everything worked well.

"I am not a pro so I will ride the Belgian Championships as an elite rider without a contract in August. I have a revenge to take after I was caught with 4km to go in 2014.”

Jens Keukeleire: I did not know that De Bondt was so fast

"I started the sprint too early," Jens Keukeleire told Het Nieuwsblad. "In the last fifty meters I was coming back but it was not enough to pass De Bondt. Actually, I did not know that he was so fast. I was a bit surprised.

"I would have loved to win here. It would certainly have been a reward for the attacking race that I made. When the peloton was split in two, I was there. When everything came back together, I accelerated again. I was the insitigator of the 10-rider break. And with five kilometers to go, I made another strong attack. Only Dries De Bondt managed to follow me. And then there was the sprint where I was just not fast enough.”

Nikolas Maes takes best result of 2016 season at Halle-Ingooigem

Following a two-up sprint, De Bondt was the one to cross the line first, while Theuns rounded out the podium, just ahead of Nikolas Maes from Etixx-QuickStep. Less than 20 seconds later, the peloton arrived, and Etixx – Quick-Step's Fernando Gaviria was the fastest rider from that group, taking the sprint ahead of Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and slotting into 7th. For the Colombian, it was the second top 10 in the space of a week, following his runner-up place in a Tour de Suisse stage.

"It took some time for the break to take shape, and I was part of a 10-man group, while Fernando Gaviria was in the peloton protected by our guys in case it eventually came down to a bunch sprint", said Nikolas Maes after his best result of the season. "In the final, when the two attacked, I was confident we will bring them back, but unfortunately we couldn't reel them in. Overall, considering we placed two riders in the top 10, it was a good race for the team.”