Great War Remembrance Race 2018 [FULL RACE]

August 24, 2018

Great War Remembrance Race 2018 – Nieuwpoort – Ypres : 192,7 km

The Great War Remembrance Race is a European single-day cycle race to be held annually from 2018 which will pass through the Belgian province of West Flanders, organized by Flanders Classics and the organizers of Gent–Wevelgem as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The inaugural edition will mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and will be held on 24 August 2018 while further editions are intended to safeguard continuing awareness of this historic war.

Mihkel Raim (Israel Cycling Academy) won the inaugural edition of the Great War Remembrance Race on Friday, triumphing in a three-up sprint in Ypres after a day of racing across West Flanders. Pawel Bernas (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) led out the final sprint but was powerless when the Estonian champion came off his wheel, while Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) could barely muster a sprint as he settled for third place.

The all-new one-day race was established to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War, and passed by some of the sites of conflict around Ypres, including a trip past the Christmas Truce memorial. The 193km route had echoes of Gent-Wevelgem, as it took in two sectors of cobblestones, three sections of gravel ‘plugstreets’, and the Kemmelberg climb ahead of a 30km run-in to Ypres.

Gent-Wevelgem is also characterised by the wind that blows north of Ypres and, following a rapid opening hour in which a break failed to form, the race was duly blown apart after 60km. When the dust settled there were four groups on the road, and Quick-Step Floors – one of four WorldTour teams at the race alongside BMC Racing, Sunweb, and Lotto Soudal – had three riders in Yves Lampaert, Fabio Jakobsen, and Fernando Gaviria in a front group of 19. BMC and Lotto Soudal also had two each – Michael Schar and Nathan Van Hooydonck for the former, Moreno Hofland and Frederik Frison for the latter – while Sunweb missed the move completely.

Quick-Step, all-conquering in 2018, seemed to hold the upper hand, but Gaviria dropped away from the break, stretching his back, after the three plugstreet sectors with 50km to go. Then on the Kemmelberg – tackled in the opposite direction to Gent-Wevelgem – Jakobsen was dropped, and although he made it back on, the chinks in the armour were obvious.

In the end, Bernas, who had led solo over the Kemmelberg only to crash on the descent, rolled the dice again in a move with Raim and Van Hecke with 10km to go. Thanks to disorganization in the chase group behind, they took their lead all the way to the line. In particular, Lampaert and the BMC riders attacked each other in turn before swinging over, with no one willing to blunt their own chances in committing to the cause.

Bernas accelerated in the final kilometre but couldn’t shake his companions, and Raim then took up the perfect position on the wheel, ready to pounce in the final 100 metres.

“I can’t really describe it because the last two weeks I haven’t felt good on the bike, I haven’t felt myself. I was really struggling in the last races and today also,” Raim said.

“I punctured on first cobbled sector and I was sure it was game over but I kept pushing and somehow I ended up in the front. I was really waiting for finish to just get the race over. I made right decisions and I don’t know how, but I won the race.”

Results :

1 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel-Cycling Academy 4:18:25
2 Pawel Bernas (Pol) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:04
3 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
4 Jan Willem Van Schip (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:10
5 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:13
6 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
7 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
8 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
9 Michael Schär (Swi) Bmc Racing Team
10 Zico Waeytens (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:00:16
11 Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service 0:00:17
12 Brian Van Goethem (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:19
13 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
14 Michel Kreder (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
15 Taco Van Der Hoorn (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
16 Edward Theuns (Bel) Team Sunweb
17 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
18 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
19 Floris Gerts (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
20 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
21 Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
22 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Team Wiggins
23 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel-Cycling Academy
24 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Wb Aqua Protect Veranclassic
25 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bmc Racing Team 0:00:25
26 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
27 Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:34
28 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) Bmc Racing Team 0:00:51
29 Neil Van Der Ploeg (Aus) Madison Genesis 0:00:56
30 Louis Verhelst (Bel) Tarteletto – Isorex 0:00:57
31 Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
32 James Fouche (NZl) Team Wiggins 0:01:12
33 Mathias Van Gompel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:23
34 Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
35 Jannik Steimle (Ger) Team Vorarlberg Santic
36 Jasper De Laat (Ned) Metec – Tkh Continental Cyclingteam P/B Mantel
37 Bert De Backer (Bel) Vital Concept Cycling Club
38 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
39 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
40 Kristian Aasvold (Nor) Team Coop
41 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel-Cycling Academy
42 Guillaume Seye (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
43 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
44 Corentin Navarro (Fra) Team Wiggins
45 Gianni Marchand (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
46 Kamil Gradek (Pol) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice
47 Michal Paluta (Pol) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice
48 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
49 Gustav Höög (Swe) Team Coop
50 Michiel Stockman (Bel) Tarteletto – Isorex
51 Julien Stassen (Bel) Wb Aqua Protect Veranclassic
52 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
53 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
54 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
55 Jonas Koch (Ger) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice
56 Mathias De Witte (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:02:31
57 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:31
58 Miles Scotson (Aus) Bmc Racing Team 0:04:43
59 David Boucher (Bel) Tarteletto – Isorex 0:05:00
60 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie 0:05:15
61 Olav Hjemsæter (Nor) Team Coop
62 Alfdan De Decker (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
63 Coen Vermeltfoort (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:08:30
64 Itamar Einhorn (Isr) Israel-Cycling Academy 0:09:33
65 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
66 Tom Van Vuchelen (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
67 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) Quick-Step Floors
68 Campbell Stewart (NZl) Team Wiggins
69 Shane Archbold (NZl) Aqua Blue Sport
70 Stan Godrie (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
71 Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal
72 Marko Kump (Slo) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice
DNF Stijn De Bock (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
DNF Arthur Baude (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
DNF Gordon De Winter (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
DNF Anthony Debuy (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
DNF Jérémy Frehen (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
DNF Laurenz Rex (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
DNF Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Franklin Six (Bel) Wb Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Robby Cobbaert (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
DNF Kenny Molly (Bel) Ago – Aqua Service
DNF Johannes De Paepe (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
DNF Frantisek Sisr (Cze) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice
DNF Timothy Stevens (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
DNF Lennert Teugels (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
DNF Wim Reynaerts (Bel) Cibel – Cebon
DNF Richard Handley (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Pawel Franczak (Pol) Ccc Sprandi Polkowice
DNF Tobyn Horton (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel-Cycling Academy
DNF Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Wouter Wippert (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Yoann Bagot (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club
DNF Erwann Corbel (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club
DNF Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel-Cycling Academy
DNF Gaetan Lemoine (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club
DNF Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Clément Carisey (Fra) Israel-Cycling Academy
DNF Robert Scott (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Clement Orceau (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
DNF Simon Sellier (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Axel Journiaux (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Jeremy Cornu (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Jimmy Duquennoy (Bel) Wb Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Alex Kirsch (Lux) Wb Aqua Protect Veranclassic
DNF Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
DNF Justin Mottier (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club
DNF Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Joeri Stallaert (Bel) Team Vorarlberg Santic
DNF Manuel Bosch (Aut) Team Vorarlberg Santic
DNF Gian Friesecke (Swi) Team Vorarlberg Santic
DNF Lukas Meiler (Ger) Team Vorarlberg Santic
DNF Roland Thalmann (Swi) Team Vorarlberg Santic
DNF Dominik Amann (Aut) Team Vorarlberg Santic
DNF Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Jonathan Mcevoy (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Dries De Bondt (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Joakim Kjemhus (Nor) Team Coop
DNF Sean De Bie (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Oliver Robinson (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Jesse Yates (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
DNF Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
DNF Alexander Evans (Aus) Mobius Bridgelane
DNF Simon Gerrans (Aus) Bmc Racing Team
DNF Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
DNF Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
DNF Niels De Rooze (Bel) Tarteletto – Isorex
DNF Florian Senechal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
DNF Taylor Karl Gunman (NZl) Madison Genesis
DNF Guillaume Haag (Bel) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNF Max Emil Boholm Kørner (Nor) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNF Ross Lamb (GBr) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNF Adam Lewis (GBr) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNF Arthur Pagnaer (Bel) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNF Edward Walsh (Can) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNF Louis Bendixen (Den) Team Coop
DNF Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Fredrik Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Coop
DNF Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Ylber Sefa (Alb) Tarteletto – Isorex
DNF Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Tarteletto – Isorex
DNF Polychronis Tzortzakis (Gre) Tarteletto – Isorex
DNF Adam Blythe (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
DNF Jon-Anders Bekken (Nor) Team Coop
DNF Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF George Pym (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Andreas Andersson (Swe) T.Palm – Pôle Continental Wallon
DNS Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Wb Aqua Protect Veranclassic