De Brabantse Pijl 2019 [LAST 30 KM]

April 17, 2019

De Brabantse Pijl 2019 – Leuven – Overijse : 196,2 km

The Brabantse Pijl (English: Brabant Arrow, French: Flèche Brabançonne or Flèche Branconne) is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race held annually in Flemish Brabant and in Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.

Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) proved strongest in the final sprint between his breakaway companions to win Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday. The Dutch champion led the race onto the final section of the Schavei climb and then launched an unmatched early sprint to take the win ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in second, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) third and Michael Matthews (Sunweb) fourth.

“I’m very happy and also proud to be there with three big names in front, and to finish it off like this is kind of like a dream,” Van der Poel said in a post-race flash interview.

“I’m really happy and I said before this Classics season that this race suits me the best and I’m glad I could prove that.”

Van der Poel, who had been one of the most active during the race, formed part of the winning breakaway when he, along with Alaphilippe, Wellens and Matthews, bridged across to lone escapee Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) on the final lap of three finishing circuits in Overijse that include climbs over Hagaard, Hertstraat, Holstheide, Ijskelderlaan and finally Schavei.

Wellens attacked the five-man breakaway over the Holstheide, and even though he was quickly followed by Alaphilippe, Van der Poel and Matthews, the move distanced Impey with just over 10km to go.

The quartet held a mere 20 seconds on the peloton but they managed to work well enough together to keep the speeds high and the chasing field at bay.

As they approached the final two climbs, however, Alaphilippe jumped over the top of the Ijskelderlaan but it wasn’t enough to drop Van der Poel, and Wellens and Matthews clawed their way back up.

Van der Poel led the breakaway onto the final climb of the Schavei then and under the flamme rouge with Matthews, Alaphilippe and Wellens on his wheel.

The four slowed, and looked at one another, which forced an impatient Matthews to take the lead. No one wanted to make the first move, however, and as they looked back, they could see the reduced field barrelling up the climb behind them.

Van der Poel retook the lead with 250 metres to go and then wound up his sprint in pursuit of the day’s win. Alaphilippe, Wellens and Matthews tried to respond, but neither had enough left in the tank to come around the Dutch champion and were forced to settle for minor places on the podium.

How it unfolded

Brabantse Pijl’s 196.2km between Leuven and Overijse is positioned mid-week, following the end of the cobbled Classics at Paris-Roubaix and the start of the Ardennes Classics – Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The day’s main breakaway included Dries De Bondt (Corendon-Circus), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Gobert), Francesco Bongiorno (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM), Arjen Livyns (Roompot-Charles), Edward Planckaert (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Andrea Peron (Novo Nordisk) and Ludovic Robeet (Wallonie-Bruxelles). At the 100km to go mark, they held steady at three minutes ahead of the main field.

At 70km to go, however, the route hit the finishing circuit that included three laps of the 23.3km loop with five climbs.
The seven men raced onto the final circuits with a slim lead of 35 seconds ahead of the peloton led by Lotto Soudal. As the breakaway hit the Hagaard climb, with pitches of 16 per cent, their gap pushed back out to 55 seconds.

Attacks came out of the main field from Lotto Soudal’s Tosh van der Sande and then followed by Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Mikkel Honore. Another attack came from Van der Poel over the Herstraat climb, in what was an unsuccessful attempt to connect with the Van der Sande and Honore.

Van der Poel cleared the field again over the Holstheide, and this time he made it across to Van der Sande and Honore, only to find out that the pair didn’t want to work with him, and they were eventually brought back into the peloton.

As the race hit the 11 per cent pitches of the Ijskelderlaan, the original breakaway split apart with Backaert, De Bondt, Livyns, Planckaert remaining out front. They the Schavei climb and then through the finish line with only 35 seconds, but their efforts came to an end with 30km to go.

Impey attacked several times during the second lap around the finishing circuit, but he couldn’t quite get the gap he wanted until the Ijskelderlaan. He cleared the field and built his lead to 15 seconds as he raced up the Schavei and into the final circuit (23km to go).

Alaphilippe jumped out of the field over the top of the Hertstraat with Wellens, Matthews and Van der Poel in pursuit. The four men reached Impey to form what was the winning move.

Working for sprinter Sonny Colbrelli, Bahrain-Merida sent five men to the front of the peloton in an attempt to bring back the heavy-hitters, but the gap stretched out to 30 seconds with three climbs to go – Holstheide, Ijskelderlaan, and Schavei.

With Impey distanced on the Holstheide, the race came down to four men racing for the win with two climbs remaining. They worked well together until they reached the Schavei, where Van der Poel won both the tactical battle and the sprint to the finish line.

Results :
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 4:35:11
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
5 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:11
6 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First 0:00:12
7 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Dimension Data
8 Alexander Kamp (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
9 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Roompot-Charles
11 Justin Jules (Fra) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:00:18
12 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
13 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
14 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
15 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data
16 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot-Charles
17 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
18 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
19 Patrick Müller (Swi) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
20 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert
21 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb
22 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
23 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:00:23
24 Davide Gabburo (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
25 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
26 Jérémy Maison (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
27 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
28 Huub Duijn (Ned) Roompot-Charles
29 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
30 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
31 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
32 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
33 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:00:28
34 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
35 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
36 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
37 Clément Russo (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:00:37
38 Simone Petilli (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
39 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
40 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Roompot-Charles
41 Dayer Quintana (Col) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:00:41
42 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:43
43 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:48
44 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:49
45 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus
46 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
47 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
48 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:54
49 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
50 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
51 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott
52 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Charles
53 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:01:05
54 Simone Velasco (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
55 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:09
56 Amael Moinard (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
57 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:01:15
58 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot-Charles 0:01:18
59 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:25
60 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:01:30
61 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
62 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:01:33
63 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:42
64 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:02:02
65 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert 0:02:14
66 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
67 Kevin Reza (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
68 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
69 Andreas Nielsen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:03:17
70 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:32
71 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:07:05
72 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:07:17
73 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie 0:08:13
74 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:08:35
75 Emil Nygaard Vinjebo (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
76 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus
77 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
78 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
79 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy
80 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
81 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Direct Energie
82 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
83 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
84 Arjen Livyns (Bel) Roompot-Charles
85 Kim Magnusson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
86 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
87 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
88 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
89 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie 0:08:54
90 Brice Feillu (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
91 Romain Le Roux (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
92 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:57
93 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
94 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
95 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:59
96 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
97 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
98 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First 0:12:08
99 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
100 Clément Carisey (Fra) Israel Cycling Academy 0:12:29
101 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:13:02
102 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
103 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
104 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
105 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
106 Jonas Aaen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
107 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
108 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
109 Roberto González (Pan) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:13:09
110 Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:13:13
DNF Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
DNF Jerome Baugnies (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Wallonie Bruxelles
DNF Emils Liepins (Lat) Wallonie Bruxelles
DNF Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Corendon-Circus
DNF Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
DNF Torkil Veyhe (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
DNF Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNF Nicolai Philip Brochner Nielsen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
DNF Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
DNF Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Dimension Data
DNF Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
DNF Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
DNF Brian Kamstra (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Simon Sellier (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Alan Riou (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
DNF Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
DNF Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNF G Lawson Craddock
DNF Maxime Daniel (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
DNF Emiel Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNS Arthur Vichot (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel