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Dwars door Vlaanderen. Hard day in the rain on the Belgian roads
It was a hard day out for the riders challenging Dwars door Vlaanderen – A travers la Flandre, a final test before the Tour of Flanders. With a crash of Michael Valgren without serious injuries and a bike change for Alexey Lutsenko, Magnus Cort and Hugo Houle were on their own in the front groups. But after the attack of a large group, they were not able to follow. Magnus Cort finished 14th, 2’40” behind winner Yves Lampaert, after an impressive solo of 20 kilometers.
- A hard and cold race because of the rain today. We missed a little bit in the decisive moments, so I was caught up in the chasing group and we were not going fast enough to get back. At one point I tried to mix it up and see if we could go with a smaller group, but I ended up alone. So I just decided to go solo for the final 20 kilometers. The overall feeling was good because of this solo to the finish line, but at the end I just missed the decisive moments ,- told Magnus Cort.
In a rainy Roeselare, the peloton took off for the final race before the Tour of Flanders, a 180-km-long race to Waregem. The first hour of racing was done in a fast 46 km/h, and there were no serious attacks before the Knokteberg. From that point, the peloton was split in various groups, with most of our riders in the first group.
At the Taaienberg everything was shaken up again, with a crash of Michael Valgren in the descent. He got back on his bike first, but didn’t finished the race. Because of a bike change for Alexey Lutsenko, only Hugo Houle and Magnus Cort were still in the front of the race.
At the Knoktenberg, Tiesj Benoot and Greg van Avermaet attacked. They were riding in front of two chasing groups, with Cort and Houle in the second group. At the end, this was the decisive moment, because the group of Cort and Houle didn’t make it back into the first groups. Magnus Cort bravely attacked from this group with 20 kilometers to go, but he didn’t make it back on it’s own, finishing 14th.
In the front of the race it was Yves Lampaert winning this edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen – A travers la Flandre, in front of Mike Teunissen and Sep Vanmarcke.
Photo credit: Bettiniphoto
