The 2015 Nokere Koerse was a cold and windy edition. "You may not have noticed it but there was a strong wind and it made it a serious afffair," said Frederick Backaert who was part of the long breakaway. Roy Jans sprinted to eighth place on the Nokereberg where Kris Boeckmans (Lotto Soudal) won.

Frederik Backaert won the mountains competition after his day in the break. He was always the first of the five riders atop the Nokereberg.

"It took more than an hour before a breakaway could get away," he said.

Backaert, Jonas Rickaert (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), David Boucher (FDJ), Dieter Bouvry (Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Alphonse Vermore (Vastgoedservice Golden Palace) got a maximum lead of 4 minutes but caught again early in the race,

"I think it was Trek Factory Racing who caught the break pretty early. Then I had two laps to recover and I could still help the team in the final lap."

In the final Wanty-Groupe Gobert was visible near the front. Tim De Troyer and especially Jerome Baugnies and Frederique Robert were well-positioned with Roy Jans in the final lap. De Limburger finally sprinted to eighth place.

"The whole match was fast. Baugnies dropped me off with three kilometres to go and then I was alone. I missed some riders in the absolute finale of the race . The teams passsed on both sides and I was in the wind too early. The conclusion is also that I was not good enough today," said Jans.

"It was not the best team we could have but they were still supporting each other well. They followed my instructions and finished all in the first group. Roy was perhaps not 100% after the disease last weekend but all in all I'm certainly not negative," said sports director Hilaire Van Der Schueren.

On Friday, Roy Jans will be part of the team for the Handzame Classic. On Saturday and Sunday, Wanty Groupe-Gobert will ride the two Coupe de France races in the Loire region. On Monday it is time for the first World Tour stage race of the season at the Tour of Catalonia.