Trek Factory Racing shows grit in Belgian semi-classic. It was a fatigued team that finished the Primus Classic Impanis-Van Petegem as back-to-back race days took its toll on the young squad today.

The 4th edition of the Primus Classic Impanis-Van Petegem, the fourth and final race in a week of fall semi-classics in Belgium, saw only one set of fresh legs for Trek Factory Racing from yesterday’s lineup with Fränk Schleck replacing Stijn Devolder. The rest of the predominantly youthful squad tackled its second straight day in punishing Belgian racing.

After the tough test yeterday (Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen) where Trek Factory Racing spent the best part of 100 kilometers chasing a dangerous 13-man breakaway, it was a tired squad that lined up in the 195.8-kilometer leg-breaking parcours of Primus Classic Impanis-Van Petegem today.

Determined not to miss the critical escape group, when 10 riders fled the peloton at kilometer 25 the pinstripes were absent, but it was not for lack of will: it was simply too much for the team to race back to back days when over half of the peloton was fresh, explained director Dirk Demol:

“They were really tired. To be honest to have the same team two races in a row is too hard, and this is something we will consider for next year. Using the same team was not good since half of the peloton was fresh riders. Yesterday was a very fast race, and again today it was up and down and we had more than 45km/h average.  We did not have the legs to go in the breakaway, but several teams missed the break, too. We put in two riders to help, but we never saw the breakaway back,” director Dick Demol told the Trek webpage.

After 170-kilometers out front the strongest from the day's escape held on to contest the finish: Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) came out on top over Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol) and Michal Golas (OPQS) in a five-up sprint.

Danny van Poppel sprinted to second from the chasing peloton that arrived 57 seconds later to finish in 17th place.

“Yesterday I was a bit disappointed in how the team raced, and I knew that today we would have to calculate or it could be a miserable day for them. I was hoping that it was not going to go that fast, but it did like it did. It never slowed down today. There were maybe 15 or 16 riders ahead at the end.  Danny was determined to make the best sprint he could from the peloton after the boys worked again all day,” Demol finished.

Seven of the eight riders for Trek Factory Racing gutted it out to finish the race, good preparation for the final races of the 2014 season, which winds down with just over a handful of events remaining. Laurent Didier was the only rider to pack it in, but after racing in Quebec and Montreal, Canada a week ago he immediately flew across six time zones to line up a mere three days later for successive hard days in the Belgian semi-classics.

Tomorrow the World Championships open with the team time trial and Trek Factory Racing's six strongest against the clock (less Bob Jungels who was forced to end his season from injury) will fight for a prestigious medal in Ponferrada, Spain.