Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) claimed his second consecutive win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad today after outsprinting Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgohe) and Seb Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team) at the finish in Ghent.
Justin Jules (Veranclassic) and Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale) were the first riders to get clear and they were later joined by Brian van Goethem (Roompot), Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb), Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Leigh Howard (Aqua Blue Sport) after the Eikenmolen climb. The group eventually gained eight minutes on the peloton.
Back in the peloton, a huge crash took out half the bunch with 62km to go, with Tom Boonen (Quick Step Floors) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Alpecin) amongst those caught up.
With BMC Racing Team up the front, Greg Van Avermaet avoided any trouble and was in the perfect position on the next cobbled section where the race opened up. Just 7 kilometres later, Van Avermaet was in a group of just eleven riders closing in on the breakaway and with 40km to go, the catch was made.
Van Avermaet, Sagan and Vanmarcke then pulled away with 20 kilometres remaining, and despite a concerted chase, the trio stayed clear until the end. On the slightly uphill finish, Van Avermaet proved strongest to take his first win of the season.
Greg van Avermaet: “The race was really hard. It was a beautiful race and we made it hard together with Peter Sagan. We opened up the race at the right time at Eikenberg. It was really nice to come with three guys to the finish and wonderful that I could finish it off. I had confidence from last year that I could win in a sprint on this finish and in the end, it was a good sprint and I am really happy with what I did today.”
