National Championships 2016 – Belgium – [Road Race – LAST 10 KM]

June 26, 2016

National Championships 2016 – Belgium – Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure Lire – 231 km

The Belgian National Road Race Championship is a cycling race which decides who will become Belgian national champion for the year to come. The record for most wins is currently held by one of the most successful Belgian sprinters, Tom Steels, who managed to take four road championship titles.

The winners of each event are awarded with a symbolic cycling jersey, which is black, yellow and red, like the national flag. These colours can be worn by the rider at other road racing events to show their status as national champion. The champion’s stripes can be combined into a sponsored rider’s team kit design for this purpose.

Five years after his first national road race title, Philippe Gilbert (BMC) rode to his second in Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure. Gilbert beat Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) in a sprint, after the two got away in a late break, with Gilbert’s BMC teammate Greg Van Avermaet taking third.

Gilbert and Wellens jumped away with Etixx-QuickStep’s Laurens de Plus inside the final 50 kilometres, shutting down an earlier attack from Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal). The trio quickly dropped de Gendt, and when Gilbert and Wellens decided to forge on, de Plus was also left behind leaving the two riders to duke it out for the Belgian jersey.

Heading into the final kilometre, Gilbert and Wellens had a comfortable lead of more than a minute over the chasers, which allowed them to ride a very cagey and tactical sprint. Much like a match sprint on the track, they tried to force the other to the front and, at moments, it looked like they might come to a standstill on the drag to the finish line. When Gilbert finally struck out towards the finish line, Wellens had no answer and the elder of the two could throw his arms up in celebration.

There was a delayed start to the day due to a later than expected finish to the women’s race. Around 10 minutes later than planned, the men rolled out under grey skies. There had been some doubts about the participation of Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) after he fell ill earlier in the race but the former champion was on the start line.

After two laps, a strong group including many of the pre-race favourites began to move clear. The full make-up was the group consisted of: Gilbert, Greg Van Avermaet, Dylan Teuns, Loïc Vliegen, De Plus, Nikolas Maes, Pieter Serry, Sean De Bie, Bart De Clercq, De Gendt, Jelle Wallays, Wellens, Jens Keukeleire, Jan Bakelants, Dries Devenyns, Wout van Aert, Aimé De Gendt, Floris De Tier and Gijs Van Hoecke.

That would prove to be the crucial split in the bunch as riders struggled to chase across. As the rain began to fall, the effort showed for De Bie, and he dropped back and eventually retired citing a broken rib for his departure. It wasn’t only De Bie that suffered and with 100km to go, only 70 riders remained out on course. Several riders did try to bridge the gap, but most were unsuccessful with Jurgen Roelandts one of the few to make it. With five laps remaining, however, the leading group began to diminish.

It was at this point that De Gendt decided to brave the horrible conditions alone. He built little more than a 20-second gap before he was joined by Gilbert, Wellens and De Plus and subsequently dropped. As the trio out front pushed on, De Gendt found more company in Bakelants, Jelle Wallays, Van Avermaet, Pieter Serry, Roelandts and Jens Keukeleire.

With 40km to go, Du Plus already looked to be struggling to stay in touch with Wellens and Gilbert. He held on for a little longer but finally had to wave goodbye to the leading group with 24 kilometres to the line. Behind them, De Gendt and Van Avermaet stopped assisting the chasing group, which allowed their teammates to build their advantage.

Wellens did the lion’s share of the work in the final 10 kilometres and, knowing Gilbert’s finishing speed, tried to shake him off on several occasions. It wasn’t to be for Wellens, and he had no answer to Gilbert in the run to the line.

Results :
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team 5:46:59
2 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:28
4 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:34
5 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step 0:00:39
7 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
8 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step 0:00:42
9 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team 0:00:51
10 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:01:44
11 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:02:50
12 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
13 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
14 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Cycling Team
15 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
16 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Lotto NL – Jumbo
17 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Soudal
18 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
19 Floris De Tier (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
20 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica GreenEdge
21 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
22 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:02:56
23 Laurent Evrard (Bel) Team 3M 0:02:57
24 Gijs Van Hoeck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
25 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data 0:03:05
26 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:13
27 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek – Segafredo 0:03:17
28 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:28
29 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step 0:03:47
30 Oliver Naesen (Bel) IAM Cycling
DNS Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games Cycling Team
DNF Kevin De Mesmaeker (Bel) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Aimé Degendt (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Moreno De Pauw (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Tim Declercq (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Ruben Pols (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Jarl Salomein (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Stijn Steels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Jens Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
DNF Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
DNF Gianni Meersman (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
DNF Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
DNF Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Etixx – Quick Step
DNF Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
DNF Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team Lotto NL – Jumbo
DNF Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team Lotto NL – Jumbo
DNF Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team Lotto NL – Jumbo
DNF Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek – Segafredo
DNF Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek – Segafredo
DNF Zico Waeytens (Bel) Team Giant – Alpecin
DNF Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team Katusha
DNF Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAMCycling
DNF Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) IAM Cycling
DNF Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Gaetan Bille (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Kenny De Haes (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Boris Dron (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Roy Jans (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Lander Seynaeve (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Robin Stenuit (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Olivier Chevalier (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Tom Dernies (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Thomas Deruette (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Jonathan Dufrasne (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Jimmy Duquennoy (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Kevin Ista (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Olivier Pardini (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Gaëtan Pons (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Julien Stassen (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Antoine Warnier (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles – Group Protect
DNF Jens Adams (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team
DNF Tim Merlier (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team
DNF Rob Peeters (Bel) Crelan-Vastgoedservice Continental Team
DNF Eli Iserbyt (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games Cycling Team
DNF Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games Cycling Team
DNF Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games Cycling Team
DNF Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Marlux-Napoleon Games Cycling Team
DNF Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Cycling Team
DNF Joeri Calleeuw (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Cycling Team
DNF Stef Van Zummeren (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Cycling Team
DNF Jim Aernouts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
DNF Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
DNF Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet Fidea Cycling Team
DNF Nicolas Vereecken (Bel) An Post – Chain Reaction
DNF Emiel Wastyn (Bel) An Post – Chain Reaction
DNF Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Beobank – Corendon
DNF Diether Sweeck (Bel) Era – Murprotec
DNF Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Era – Murprotec
DNF Jens Vandekinderen (Bel) Kalas – H Essers – Noff Cycling Team
DNF Laurent Vanden Bak (Bel) Leopard Pro Cycling
DNF Dieter Bouvry (Bel) Roubaix Metropole Europeenne De Lille
DNF Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Roubaix Metropole Europeenne De Lille
DNF Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Kenneth Van Bilsen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Boris Vallee (Bel) Fortuneo – Vital Concept