Nokere Koerse 2021 [FULL RACE]

March 17, 2021

Nokere Koerse 20 – Deinze – Nokere : 195 km

The Belgian Classics season will resume this Wednesday with the 76th edition of Danilith Nokere Koerse – a lesser-known one-day race in East Flanders that packs an almighty punch. With the likes of Mark Cavendish, Jake Stewart and Jasper Philipsen set to take to the startline, plus a route that contains a countless number of cobblestone sectors and Flandrian bergs, this is going to be a race that you won’t want to miss… Nokere Koerse may be one of the lesser-known Flandrian Classics, but it’s by no means one of the easiest. Like its sister races, it’s characterised by a number of bone-rattling sectors of cobblestones and several short, punchy climbs. These climbs and cobblestone sectors are packed into a 193km-long route that centres around a local, 28.5km-long circuit in Nokere.

Ludovic Robeet (Bingoal Casino-Wallonie Bruxelles) won Nokere Koerse from the breakaway, riding away from Damien Gaudin (Total Direct Energie) in the closing kilometres to celebrate victory on the Nokereberg cobbles.

Gaudin finished just behind in second, while a heavily reduced peloton was led home by Luca Mozzato (B&B Hotels p/b KTM) only a few seconds later.

Robeet had been part of an eight-man break in a windy edition of the Belgian semi-Classic. It took more than an hour to form but it proved worth the wait, as the 26-year-old went on to land the second, and biggest, win of his career.

The original group never gained a lead of more than four minutes, but the peloton was disorganized throughout, squandering a gap of just a minute on the last of three laps of the 30km finishing circuit.

It looked as though it was game over for the break as the race hit the Lange Ast sector (400 metres at five per cent) with 15km to go. The reduced peloton had finally started to mount a chase, and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation) launched an attack on the uphill cobbles.

However, Robeet and Gaudin used the same launchpad to move clear of their breakaway companions, before profiting from more indecision in the fragmented groups behind. Mozzato and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) went on the attack in the last 10km but only succeeded in hanging in between the leading duo and the bunch.

With 2km to go, and with 15 seconds still in hand, Robeet attacked Gaudin and held his small gap up the final ramp to the finish on the Nokereberg.

“A win is a win. I’m happy. Normally I always work for the sprinters but today I was in the breakaway. I never get the chance to go for the win and today was something different. I’m really happy,” Robeet said.

“In the last lap I felt really good, like I should try. We still had a bit of a gap, so I tried and succeeded. I was on Gaudin’s wheel and it was relatively easy. I knew that I had to finish this on my own. It was amazing to be at the front and at the two-kilometre mark I knew that I could win.”

How it unfolded

It was a fast start to the race as the riders set off from Deinze with a tailwind on the way south towards Nokere. On the menu was a large loop to the south of the town, before three laps of the 30.5km finishing circuit, where the eight cobblestone sectors were found. The race centres on the cobbled Nokereberg climb, (350m at 5.7 per cent), the last time being the finishing straight.

It took some 50km – ticked off in little more than an hour – for a breakaway to form. As well as Robeet and Gaudin, it contained: Anthony Julien (AG2R Citroën), Sébastian Grignard (Lotto Soudal), Thibault Ferasse (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), Samuele Zoccarato (Bardiani-CSF), Ward Vanhoof (Sport Flanders-Baloise) and Aaron Van Poucke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise). There was one other chaser – Yiber Sefa (Tarteletto-Isorex) – but he never made it across.

The eight riders built a lead of four minutes but that started to fall once they hit the finishing circuit with 92km to go. In the peloton, it was the Norwegian second-division team Uno-X who took responsibility and dictated the tempo for much of the day.

Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) issued a small testing attack on the uphill Lange Ast cobblestones (400m at 5 per cent), but it was short lived. The peloton did briefly split but otherwise the opening lap passed by quietly, with the gap between break and bunch at two minutes as they hit the Nokereberg and crossed the line for the second time.

It was Lange Ast where the race ignited again on the second lap, after the gap to the break had gone out to 2:40 again. Groupama-FDJ took it up on the sector, sparking some splits but nothing race defining.

It set the tone, however, and on the next, flatter, sector there was more movement. On the narrow cobblestones a group of 11 riders clipped away, as a crash held up others behind. Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was in the front group but got caught in the potholes to the side of the cobbles and dropped back to a second group of 15. Out on the tarmac, the two groups merged together, ahead of other small groups behind.

Back at the finish line, where the bell sounded for the final lap with 30.5km to go, the breakaway had a lead of one minute over the front peloton of 25 riders. A second group of 20 riders – including Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) – wasn’t far behind, and did itself join forces with the front of the race after a few kilometres of the final lap.

The race then entered a period of disorganisation, with a series of vague accelerations and no sense of cohesion in the peloton. The gap to the break went back out to 1:20 in the absence of any concerted chase.

It was only with 15km to go that the pattern of repeated accelerations and lulls ended, and a proper chase was mounted, with Israel Start-Up Nation, Qhubeka-Assos, and Uno-X leading it. In three kilometres, the gap tumbled to 30 seconds, and Alpecin-Fenix upped the tempo even more on the approach to Lange Ast.

Gaudin and Robeet forged clear on the uphill cobbles, while Vanmarcke attacked from the bunch and made his way through the remnants of that break. The Belgian pressed on as the peloton split in three, but was soon caught by a split of 20 riders.

There was another lull, however, allowing more riders to get back in, and allowing Gaudin and Robeet to move back out to half a minute.

The next attack came from Hayter and Mozzato, who linked up with Van Pouke from the break with 10km to go. They soon dropped Van Poucke but they caught Zoccarato and pressed on at 20 seconds from the leading duo, but only just ahead of the front peloton.

Cavendish, who was in the second split, crashed on the flatter cobbled sector and his teammate Jannik Steimle soon hit the deck himself, and looked worse affected.

Alpecin-Fenix and UAE Team Emirates did the turns in the front peloton but the situation remained stable with 5km to go, and the tide quickly turned in favour of the break.

The leading duo turned on each other with 2km to go as Robeet launched a stinging acceleration. Gaudin looked to grind his big gear back into contention but soon the gap was established.

With 1km to go, Robeet led by a few seconds, with the Hayter group still 10 seconds in arrears and the peloton a further 10 seconds back. All that remained was the Nokereberg, and he duly finished it off. The cobblestones, the gradient, and the 195km breakaway all meant he could barely get two hands off the bars to celebrate, but that will do nothing to diminish the best day of Robeet’s career to date.

Results :
1 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Bingoal WB 4:33:37
2 Damien Gaudin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:00:03
3 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:05
4 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
6 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
7 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Qhubeka Assos
8 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
9 Jhonatan Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
10 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
11 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
12 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis
13 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
14 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Delko
15 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
16 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko
17 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
18 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
19 Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
20 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
21 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
22 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
23 Magnus Sheffield (USA) Rally Cycling
24 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
25 Ward Vanhoof (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
26 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
27 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
28 Harry Sweeny (Aus) Lotto Soudal
29 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) Cofidis
30 Arjen Livyns (Bel) Bingoal WB
31 Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Pol) Bingoal WB
32 Samuele Zoccarato (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
33 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
34 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:24
35 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Cofidis 0:00:36
36 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:00:47
37 Michal Golas (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:48
38 Alfdan De Decker (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex 0:00:53
39 August Jensen (Nor) Delko 0:01:01
40 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
41 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bingoal WB 0:01:09
42 André Carvalho (Por) Cofidis 0:01:23
43 Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:25
44 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM 0:01:35
45 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko 0:01:36
46 Valentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie
47 Clément Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
48 Jeremy Cabot (Fra) Total Direct Energie
49 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
50 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
51 Bram Welten (Ned) Team Arkea-Samsic
52 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:49
53 Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal
54 Anthony Jullien (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:01:52
55 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:02:01
56 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
57 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
58 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
59 Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
60 Antonio Puppio (Ita) Team Qhubeka
61 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
62 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
63 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
64 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
65 Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
66 Gilles De Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:02:10
67 Davide Orrico (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
68 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:13
69 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates
70 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Bingoal WB 0:02:15
71 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
72 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:16
73 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers
74 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
75 Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
76 Andreas Nielsen (Den) Team Qhubeka Assos
77 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
78 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:19
79 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:27
80 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:29
81 Norman Vahtra (Est) Israel Start-up Nation 0:04:40
82 Arne Marit (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:04:58
83 Stijn Steels (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:50
84 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
85 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis
86 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Ian Garrison (USA) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
DNF Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
DNF Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Matthew Walls (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis
DNF Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Jasper De Plus (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Boy van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Danny van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Taj Jones (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
DNF Filippo Conca (Ita) Lotto Soudal
DNF Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
DNF Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Xandres Vervloesem (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM
DNF Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM
DNF Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM
DNF Tim Naberman (Ned) Development Team DSM
DNF Casper van Uden (Ned) Development Team DSM
DNF Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM
DNF Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Team DSM
DNF Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
DNF Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos
DNF Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Jakob Egholm (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Tobias Bayer (Aut) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Edward Planckaert (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Bert De Backer (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
DNF Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
DNF Julien Morice (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
DNF Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
DNF Nicolas Dalla Valle (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Alessandro Monaco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
DNF Milan Menten (Bel) Bingoal WB
DNF Sean De Bie (Bel) Bingoal WB
DNF Clément Carisey (Fra) Delko
DNF José Gonçalves (Por) Delko
DNF Dusan Rajovic (Srb) Delko
DNF Stephen Bassett (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Pier Andre Cote (Can) Rally Cycling
DNF Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
DNF Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
DNF Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally Cycling
DNF Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Christophe Noppe (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Christopher Lawless (GBr) Total Direct Energie
DNF Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Florian Maitre (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Morten Hulgaard (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
DNF Niklas Larsen (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
DNF Syver Wærsted (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
DNF Andrea Bartolozzi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Joab Schneiter (Swi) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Mattia Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Alessandro Iacchi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Wout van Elzakker (Ned) Vini Zabu’ Brado KTM
DNF Maxime De Poorter (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Ylber Sefa (Alb) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Brent Van De Kerkhove (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Elias Van Breussegem (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Julien Van Den Brande (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex