Peter Kennaugh took his first win for BORA – hansgrohe yesterday at the Belgian one-day race, the Grand Prix Cerami (1.1).
The Briton had made it into the main breakaway of the race which had stayed clear for the day. As the race headed into the finale, the advantage had decreased to 15 seconds, but Kennaugh launched a late attack and took the win ahead of Jerome Baugnies (Wanty – Groupe Gobert).
The race took the riders from Saint-Ghislain to Frameries over 200 kilometres with five climbs en route including the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the riders also faced the challenging climb to the finish line with an average gradient of 8%.
BORA – hansgrohe brought several options to Belgium, among them Jay McCarthy, who won a stage at the Pais Vasco race. He was joined by Kennaugh, who was more than motivated after a good altitude camp. The team had planned to have one or more riders in the break of the day.
The break was formed by five riders, including Kennaugh, who managed to establish themselves as the escapee group of the day early on. Their maximum advantage hovered around the 3-minute mark. In the last 50 kilometres, terrible weather conditions made the race very difficult, but the breakaway stayed clear.
On the last lap, Kennaugh put in a late attack and soloed to the finish to take the win ahead of Baugnies. Benjamin Declercq (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise) was third with Aleksejs Saramotins (BORA – hansgrohe) leading the bunch home in fourth.
“I’m so happy to win here today, my legs felt good from the start and I also think the heat helped me after I had spent the last 3 weeks in Sierra Nevada with team mate Jay McCarthy, so we were well acclimatised,” said Kennaugh.
“I don’t think anyone expected me to win out of the original break and neither did I! But I still felt really fresh coming into the last 20 km, so I always believed. I’m so happy to pay everyone, who had been patient with me earlier on in the year back with this victory and hope it can be the sign of things to come for the rest of the year. I also thank my family my coach Dan Lorang and the team. I look forward to London now, where I can try my luck again and we also have Jay and Ackes, who are both in great form.”
