23-year-old Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen) confirmed his great potential when he took a breakthrough win in the hilly Belgian one-day race GP Stad Zottegem. Having bridged across to the early breakaway, he attacked with his teammate Zico Waeytens and Tim De Troyer (Wanty) in the finale before beating the pair in a three-rider sprint.

Last week Edward Theuns got some attention for his great performances in the Arctic Race of Norway. The Belgian showed great sprinting skills when he finished third behind Alexander Kristoff and Thor Hushovd in stage 2 and on the final day he animated the stage with a great attack in the finale.

Today he underlined his good form and big potential when he took a breakthrough win in the first of the many Belgian late-season one-day races, the GP Stad Zottegem. Finishing off a great performance by his Topsport Vlaanderen team, he won a three-rider sprint against fellow Belgian talents Tim De Troyer and Zico Waeytens.

The 79th edition of the Belgian semi-classic took place on a 189km course that started and finished in Zottegem. After a hilly first section with 4 climbs, the race ended with four laps of a 29km finishing circuit that included the Grotenbergstraat and De Vlaamme hellingen. The final climb came just 4km from the finish, offering the perfect launch pad for a late attack.

The race got off to a very fast start in the windy conditions and it took some time for the early break to be formed. Matias van Holderbeke (Cibel) and Dex Groen (De Rijke) gained the first small advantage but the fast pace made it impossible to escape.

Moments later, a dangerous 26-rider group escaped but the peloton managed to bring it back. Instead, 15 riders took off after more than 30km of racing and when Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport) and Huub Duijn (De Rijke) bridged the gap, the day’s 17-rider break had been formed.

Tiesj Benoot, Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), Zico Waeytens, Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen-baloise), Tim De Troyer, Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty - Groupe Gobert), Jori Van Steenberghen (Team Cibel),Huub Duijn (Cyclingteam De Rijke),Maurits Lammertink, Elmar Reinders (Cyclinteam Jo Piels), Twan Castelijns (Koga CT), Tijmen Eising, Brian Van Goethem (Metec), Maarten Van Trijp (Rabobank Development Team), Rub Ruijgh (Vastgoedservice), Frédéric Amorison (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Rick Ottema (Veranclassic-Dolticini) made up the move but the peloton had no intention of letting the situation get out of control. The fast pace caused a split in the peloton and it required a hard chase for the second bunch to rejoin the first one.

The gap reached 50 seconds before 3M and Verandas Willems started to chase. Kobus Hereijgers (De Rijke) tried to bridge the gap but had no success.

3M and Verandas Willems kept the gap at around a minute while Van Trijp was unfortunate to puncture out of the lead group. At the first passage of the finish line, the gap was 1.18.

3M accelerated a bit and managed to bring the gap down to less than a minute. At this point van Steenberghen was unfortunate to become the second rider to puncture out of the breakaway.

The breakaway managed to extend their advantage to 1.30 and 3M had to work hard just to keep the situation stable. On the second lap, Ruijgh was dropped from the breakaway which was now down to 14 riders.

On the penultimate lap, Leopard and Rabobank started to chase and this had a clear effect on the gap which again dropped to less than a minute. Gatean Bille (Verandas Willems) and Dennis Coenen (Leopard) both made unsuccessful attempts to bridge the gap while van der Sande and Reindars were the next riders to get dropped from the front group.

Sean De Bie (Lotto) and Ludwig De Winter (Color Code) were the next riders to try to bridge the gap and just after the penultimate passage of the line, they had made the junction. At this point, the peloton was 50 seconds behind and now the attacking in the front group started.

Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Belisol), Zico Waeytens (Topsport), Tim De Troyer (Wanty-Groupe Gobert),  Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Twan Castellijns (Koga), Huub Duijn (Cyclingteam De Rijke) and Brian Van Goethem (Metec) got a gap before Benoot launched a solo attack. Castelijns and van Goethem were dropped while De Troyer and Duijn were the first to rejoin the Lotto stagiaire.

 De Bie, Waeytens, Veuchelen, De Winter, Castelijn and van Goethem all managed to make the junction before Kenny Dehaes (Lotto), Jasper De Buyst (Topsport), Thuens and Jesper Asseman (Metec) attacked from the breakaway and bridge the gap. With 12km to go, the 13-rider front group was just 24 seconds ahead of the peloton.

De Bie and Van Goethem were dropped from the front group which was gaining time on the peloton. After Veuchelen and Asselman had made a futile attack, the escapees managed to extend their lead to 50 seconds while a chase group followed at 27 seconds.

With 5km to go, Veuchelen launched the next attack but the Belgian was brought back. Moments later, Dehaes crashes out of the lead group, leaving 10 riders to battle for the victory.

With 2km to go, Theuns, Waeytens and De Troyer attacked and the trio managed to stay clear to the finish. Here Theuns again made use of his fast sprinting skills to beat De Troyer and claim the biggest win of his career.

Th series of Belgian one-day races continues next Wednesday when the riders tackle the Druivenkoers-Overijse.