Tom Van Asbroeck finished third today in Binche-Chimay-Binche/Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke. The Belgian sprinter of Team LottoNL-Jumbo witnessed how Ramon Sinkeldam and Pim Ligthart took a small advantage in the final corner, after which pace dropped in the peloton and a third place was the best possible result.

“I had saved powers all day long because of a possible sprint,” Van Asbroeck said. “In the finale, Maarten Wynants was part of the first group, but as a team we decided to close the gap for me. Of course that’s not nice for Maarten, but he was up there with several fast riders.

“Sep [Vanmarcke] was my lead-out man in the sprint. He dropped me off the front. I was well placed, but in the final corner Marcato passed me. He could not hold the wheel of Sinkeldam and Ligthart and because of the fences on the side of the road I couldn’t pass him. I guess that cost me the win, unfortunately.”

The riders of Team LottoNL-Jumbo attacked all day long in Belgium. Paul Martens was part of a severe breakaway, but the group was caught well before the line. Eventually it was Maarten Wynants who distinguished himself by leading the race with a group until the final few kilometres.

“We knew we had a strong team and we just really wanted to win today,” Sports Director Erik Dekker said afterwards. “Although we knew we face some fierce competition. Paul immediately got in a strong break group, almost all the teams were represented by a rider. Despite that, the peloton got nervous later on and about 35 riders managed to bridge.

“For Maarten Wynants is a pity that couldn’t go for a result and it was good to see that he was upset about that, but in the end he understood my decision to focus on Tom. The commitment of the team was really great today.”