Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) showed that he is ready for the cyclo-cross season by claiming the biggest road race win of his career at Schaal Sels. After a huge elimination race on the cobbles and gravel roads of the unique Belgian race, he attacked from a seven-rider group with a little more than 5km to go and then soloed to victory. Timothy Dupont (Veranda’s Willems) beat Stijn Steels (Topsport Vlaanderen) in the sprint for second.

During the 2016 season, it has been evident that cyclo-cross world champion Wout Van Aert has a huge potential on the road too. He beat Tony Martin in the Belgium Tour prologue, he finished second behind Sep Vanmarcke in the Ster ZLM Toer queen stage and he was one of the best at the Belgian Chmpionships.

However, Van Aert has made it clear that his focus is on cyclo-cross and so he had actually ended his road campaign to focus on his off-road endeavors. However, he couldn’t resist the temptation to come out from his hiatus to tackle the Schaal Sels semi-classic which is one of the unique races on the calendar. For the second year in a row, the race was held on a course with lots of cobbles and gravel roads and so was excellent suited to his skills.

Van Aert again proved that he can do almost everything as he was clearly the strongest throughout the 194.7km race. Despite suffering a very untimely puncture in the finale, he was still there when seven riders gathered at the end of a very selective elimination race. In the end, he launched a well-timed attack on the 9km finishing circuit and as his companions failed to react, he soloed to the biggest road race win of his career.

The 91st edition of Schaal Sels was held on a 194.7km course with start and finish in Merksem. There wasn’t a single climb on the completely flat course and instead the challenge were the cobbles and the gravel roads. There was over 33 km over 19 cobblestone sections and another 33 km of gravel roads during the 11 sections, with the parcours winding through small roads, doubling back on itself and using every sector several times. In the end, the riders did one lap of a 9km circuit that was also completely flat. The final gravel road came 16km from the finish and the final cobbles with just 7km to go.

The riders had hot and sunny conditons when they gathered for the stat and as soon as the flag was dropped, a ONE rider attacked. However Philipp Walsleben (Beobank) and Robbie van Bakel (Metec) were the first riders to get a bigger advantage of 26 seconds. Four riders bridged across and when another two had the junction, an 8-rider group that also included Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty), Dries De Bondt (Veranda’s Willems), Michael Reihs (Stölting), Josef Cerny (CCC), Jacob Scott (An Post) and Jake Kelly (Wiggins) had been formed after 12km of racing.

Gerry Druyts (Crelan-Vastgoedservice), Dieter Sweeck (Era-Murprotec,) Emiel Wastyn (An Post-Chainreaction) and Dries Hollanders (Metec-TKH Continental Team) took off in pursuit but they were brought back as Cibel was chasing hard. 3M and Veranclassic had also missed the move and so started to ride hard but they could not prevent the gap from going out to a minute at the 17km mark.

Dimitri Peyskens (Veranclassi( tried to attack as did Mathew Zenovich (Avanti). The latter was joined by Robert Retschke (Kuota) and Aviv Yechzkel (Cycling Academy) but ONE brought it back together.

As they hit the first cobbles, Roompot took control and upped the pace with Wesley Kreder and Brian van Goethem. The pair managed to build a gap of 30 seconds over the peloton and then slowly approached the front. They made the junction after just a few kilometres of chasing.

The 10 leaders had an advantage of 2 minutes as they entered the final 120km where the peloton exploded into four groups. Crelan were attentive with several rides in the first group which had a 15-second advantage over the second.  They rode hard on the front and got some help from the Topsport Vlaanderen team.

The increased pace forced the escapees to accelerate and Scott was the first to surrender. At the same time, Kreder had bad luck to puncture out of the group.

The peloton was just 25 seconds behind the leaders when they hit the next cobbled sector and it was still Topsport and Crelan dictating proceedings. Cerny was the next rider to get dropped but together with Scott he managed to rejoin the leasdes.

The gap stabilized at around 30 seconds as the 40-rider group slowed down and suddenly, the escapees even managed to increase their advantage to 58 seconds with 85km to go. Wallonie were now also setting the pace but a bit of a regrouping still took place as the peloton headed into the final 80km.

As they hit the next cobbles, Wouter Mol (De Rijke) crashed, and moments later a 12-rider group split off the front. Further up the road, van Bakel and Scott were dropped.

The peloton came back together with 73km to go where the gap was 26 seconds. This was the time for De Bondt to attack his companions and while he increased his advantage, Joeri Stallaert (Cibel) increased the pace in the peloton.

Timothy Dupont (Veranda’s Willems) made a big acceleration on a cobbled section and so things came back together with 65km to go. However, only 25 riders had made the selection in what turned out to be a race of attrition.

Van Aert and Baptiste Planckaert (Wallonie) went on the attack and were joined by Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Tim Declercq, Stijn Steels (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Taco Van der Hoorn, Coen Vermelfoort (Join's - De Rijke), Timothy Dupont (Verandas Willems ), Joeri Stallaert (Team Cibel) and Brian Van Goethem (Roompot Oranje Platoon). Ludwig De Winter (Wallonie) bridged the gap and so 11 riders had gathered with 52km to go.

Dupont constantly increased the pace and this made it difficult for the lone Nicolas Vereecken (An post) to close the gap. The peloton was already 1.23 behind and with 45km to go, it was eveident that they were out of the battle.

Vermeltfoort was clearly suffering in the front group and it didn’t get any easier when Van Aert accelerated on a gravel sector. At the same time, disaster struck for Planckaert as the Belgian sprinter punctured.

Van Aert made the group explode and only van der Hoorn, Meurisse and Dupont could match his pace. Dupont, Declercq, Planckaert, Stallaert and Van Goethem rejoined the group and after a hard chase, Steels also made it back.

The ten leaders hit the final 30km together but it didn’t take long for Steelsn to attack. With 24km to go he had an advantage of 18 seconds and while he pressed on, both Meurisse and van der Hoorn were taken out by mechanicals.

It was time for Van Aert to make his move and he soon bridged the gap to Steels. However, he suffered a mechanical and had to let the Topsport rider ride away. Hence Steels could start the final 20km with a 25-second gap to van Aert, Dupont, Planckaert, Van Goethem and Declercq, with Meurisse, Stallaert and van der Hoorn chasing further back.

Steels was unable to keep his advantage and so he was caught by the five chasers with 15km to go. Van Goethem made a failed attack before Meurisse managed to rejoin the leaders as they started the 9km circuit.

The game of poker was on until Van Aert made his move with a little more than 5km to go. No one managed to react and with 4km to go, he already had an advantage of 10 seconds. There was no cooperation in the chase group and so he had pushed it out to 14 seconds one kilometre later.

Van Aert maintained his speed and so had time to sit up and celebrate the biggest road race win of his career. 15 seconds later Deupont beat Steels and Planckaert in the sprint for second.

With Schaal Sels done and dusted, a very hectic week of Belgian racing is over. The series of autumn classics will kick on Saturday at the Brussels Cycling Classic.