As has been his wont, he is a man in form for this end of the season. For the second stage of the Eurométropole, Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal) won for the third time in two weeks. And even if Debusschere came into the stage as something of a marked favorite, no one was strong enough to stay ahead of him in the final mass gallop. 

Not even IAM Cycling’s Jonas Van Genechten, who did manage to take eight place in the streets of Chièvres on Thursday, and had tipped the former Belgian champion to be the rider to watch in this stage. Overnight leader, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) was unchallenged and retained his hold on the leader’s jersey.

Jonas Van Genechten had marked this stage for himself. Ever since winning at the Tour de Wallonie in July, the Belgian sprinter on the IAM Cycling team has been looking for an additional success. His strong end of the season form gives him the ambition to win another race before the year is out. 

“I was not missing much to grab a better result today,” Van Genechten confided. “But a sprint is always a bit special. The final was very nervous when Aleksejs Saramotins and Sondre Holst Enger had to give all their energy in the last two laps to ensure that we stayed in contact with the leaders. The finish line came after a slight downhill, and for such a finish, we really had to have perfect timing.

"For this first stage Jens Debusschere and his team were simply the strongest. However, I what I will take away from this is that we have a very good team, and are in an excellent position to have a strong showing here in Belgium. So if we didn’t get the victory today, we will certainly have one by the end of the week.”

And to ensure that success comes to the Swiss camp, the team will bring out all its ammunition. The squad that is led by directeurs sportis Thierry Marichal and Mario Chiesa will adopt a very aggressive tactic in order to animate and impact the race. That way, they hope to get onto the top step of the podium. 

“If we do not try something, we will never be able to reap the fruits of our efforts,” Marichal explained. “We tried to cause some echelons with about an hour left in racing. It worked to begin with, and then the peloton got back together.

"Then the expected scenario unfolded at the finale, in other words, a bunch sprint. The only regret we have is that we weren’t able to put our sprinter in the optimum position to allow him to play for the win. With the team we have here, I think it is within our ability to be able to dominate in the final kilometers. But we were not been able to position ourselves well, and that is what we will have to focus and insist on in the upcoming stages.”