Primus Classic 2021 [FULL RACE]

September 18, 2021

Primus Classic 2021 – Brakel – Haacht : 197,7 km

The Primus Classic, or GP Impanis-Van Petegem, is a one-day road race that was first held in 1982 in the hilly Flemish Brabant region of Belgium. The race was first created as a tribute to Raymond Impanis, a former winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders who, prior to his death in 2010, was made an honorary citizen of the town of Kampenhout – the town in which this race takes place.

Florian Sénéchal (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won the Primus Classic in a five-up sprint in Haacht, beating Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segfredo) to the line after his teammate Mikkel Honoré led out the sprint.

“We won as a team. The whole team worked very well and I wouldn’t have won without them today,” said Sénéchal. “Mikkel Honoré did a super job in the final, and I was able to think 100% about the sprint.”

As is so often the case in one-day races in this corner of the world, the story of the race was dictated by Deceuninck-QuickStep’s numerical superiority, with the men in blue present on the front at every key juncture.

The winning move had its genesis in Julian Alaphilippe’s rasping acceleration on the final cobbled climb of Bekestraat with 35km to go. This was the Frenchman’s final outing on the rainbow jersey before he puts his world title on the line next weekend, and his effervescent display suggested he was determined to mark the occasion in style.

Alaphilippe had already been prominent in marking a move by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) following the Moskesstraat. If the race was fraying at the seams at that point, it was ripped apart on the Bekestraat, where Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Van der Poel and Van Der Sande could match Alaphilippe’s initial surge, with seven more riders bridging across over the top.

When the dust settled, there were five Deceuninck-QuickStep riders in a move of eleven riders, with Alaphilippe, Ballerini, Sénéchal, Honoré and Zdenek Stybar facing Van der Poel, Stuyven, Van der Sande, Simon Clarke (Qhubeka-NextHash and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-NextHash).

Mindful of the threat posed by Van der Poel’s strength and Nizzolo’s finishing speed, Deceuninck-QuickStep soon set about attacking in turn, and the decisive break went clear thanks to Honoré’s acceleration with 22km to go. The Dane was joined by his teammate Sénéchal, Stuyven, Clark and Van der Sande in front.

All eyes were on Van der Poel to close the gap after his earlier jousts with Alaphilippe, but the Dutchman suffered a most untimely puncture barely a kilometre later. That incident effectively ended his challenge and all but guaranteed that Sénéchal, Honoré et al would stay clear to the finish.

The five leaders combined smoothly to extend their advantage over the chasing group, which grew in size as it lost impetus, but their détente would expire on the run-in. The Deceuninck-QuickStep pairing were understandably wary of Stuyven’s speed and nous in the finale, and so they returned to the time-honoured template of attacking in turn.

Honoré was the first to go with 7km to go, with Simon Clarke marking his move. When he was brought back, Sénéchal kicked with only Van der Sande for company. Stuyven was prominent in pinning back each move, but he had to relent when Honoré went once more with Van der Sande with a little over 5km to go.

That looked like the winning move, particularly as Clark was distanced, leaving Stuyven without an ally. But despite Sénéchal’s policing presence on his wheel, Stuvyen summoned up the strength to make another determined chasing effort, and he brought Honoré and Van der Sande back with 2.5km to go.

Deceuninck-QuickStep hadn’t run out of ideas, however. Indeed, they hadn’t yet exhausted the possibilities of the original idea, as Honoré made two more accelerations with 1.8km to go and again just shy of the flamme rouge. On each occasion, Stuyven was pressed to chase and a little more of the venom was drawn out of his legs.

Inside the final kilometre, the pace dropped almost to a standstill, which allowed Clarke to latch back on, but the Australian was flagging and unable to rustle up a surprise attack. Instead, it came down to a small sprint, which Honoré led out on behalf of Sénéchal.

Stuyven attempted to come around, but he hadn’t the strength to do so, as Sénéchal powered through to claim the win ahead of Van der Sande.

Behind, Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) clipped away from the chasers to take 6th place at 53 seconds, while Stybar won the sprint for 7th ahead of Van der Poel, Nizzolo and Ballerini.

The victory was Sénéchal’s second of the season after his stage win at the Vuelta a España. His fellow countryman Alaphilippe was among the first to congratulate him on the triumph, and the pair will hope to combine to similar effect in Leuven next Sunday.

“It gives me confidence ahead of the Worlds, and it’s good for the French team because Julian rode very well today,” said Sénéchal, who acknowledged that the race had been an ideal warm-up for the main event next weekend.

“It was raced like a classic, with lots of small roads and short climbs. There was no waiting around. A lot of riders wanted to make the race and there was a lot of attacking, and the best riders were in front.”

Results :
1 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:34:05
2 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
3 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
4 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Qhubeka NextHash 0:00:04
6 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
7 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:00
8 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
9 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Qhubeka NextHash
10 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
11 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
12 Stan Dewulf (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
13 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
14 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
15 Giovanni Aleotti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
17 Martin Urianstad (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
18 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
19 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
20 Michael Gogl (Aut) Qhubeka NextHash
21 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM
22 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
23 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
24 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
25 Mathijs Paasschens (Ned) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
26 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
27 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Qhubeka NextHash
28 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
29 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Qhubeka NextHash
30 Dries De Pooter (Bel) SEG Racing Academy
31 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic
32 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
33 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team DSM
34 Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
35 Ward Vanhoof (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
36 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) EF Education-Nippo
37 Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:06
38 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM
39 Filippo Conca (Ita) Lotto Soudal
40 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic
41 Lennert Teugels (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
42 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-up Nation
43 Andreas Goeman (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
44 Thomas Joseph (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex 0:01:11
45 Laurens Huys (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 0:01:15
46 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education-Nippo
47 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:16
48 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:19
49 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
50 Sep Van Marcke (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:02:24
51 Piotr Havik (Ned) Beat Cycling 0:05:43
52 Jeroen Eyskens (Bel) Evopro Racing
53 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 0:06:53
54 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
55 Anton Palzer (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
56 Conn McDunphy (Ire) EvoPro Racing
57 Kamil Malecki (Pol) Lotto Soudal
58 Ylber Sefa (Alb) Tarteletto-Isorex
59 Aden Paterson (Aus) ABLOC CT
60 Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal
61 Casper van Uden (Ned) Team DSM
62 Stijn Siemons (Bel) EvoPro Racing
63 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
64 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
65 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
66 Dillon Corkery (Ire) EvoPro Racing
67 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) Cofidis
68 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Cofidis
69 Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
70 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
71 Alex Colman (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
72 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
73 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-Nippo
74 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education-Nippo
75 Anthony Jullien (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
76 Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
77 Daniel Arroyave Cañas (Col) EF Education-Nippo
78 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal
79 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe
80 Felix Gall (Aut) Team DSM 0:09:12
81 Jens Reynders (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:11:33
82 Nils Sinschek (Ned) Abloc CT
83 Robin Juel Skivild (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
84 Romain Combaud (Fra) Team DSM
85 Connor Brown (NZl) Qhubeka NextHash
86 Martijn Budding (Ned) Beat Cycling 0:16:19
87 Cyrus Monk (Aus) Evopro Racing
88 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
89 Lars Saugstad (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
90 Sven Burger (Ned) Beat Cycling 0:17:13
91 Jan-Willem Van Schip (Ned) Beat Cycling
92 Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal
93 Adriaan Janssen (Ned) Abloc CT
94 Jacob Relaes (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
95 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
96 Stefano Museeuw (Bel) Beat Cycling
97 Jakob Egholm (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:19:17
98 Mārtiņš Pluto (Lat) Abloc CT
99 Bernat Font (Spa) EvoPro Racing
100 Stijn Appel (Ned) Abloc CT
101 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
102 Oskar Myrestøl Johansson (Nor) Uno-X Dare Development Team
103 Bodi del Gorsso (Ned) Abloc CT
104 Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
105 Brendan Rhim (USA) Evopro Racing
106 Dorian De Maeght (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
107 Donavan Grondin (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
108 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Qhubeka NextHash
109 Quentin Venner (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 0:20:12
DNF Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Matthew Walls (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Axel Zingle (Ned) Cofidis
DNF Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
DNF Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Jonas Castrique (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
DNF Gilles De Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Sindre Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
DNF Yoeri Havik (Ned) Beat Cycling
DNF Brent Van De Kerkhove (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF André Carvalho (Por) Cofidis
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) EF Education-Nippo
DNF Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
DNF Martin Salmon (Ger) Team DSM
DNF Charlie Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Sébastien Van Poppel (Bel) Bingoal WB
DNF Jordi Warlop (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Jordy Bouts (Bel) Beat Cycling
DNF Maxime De Poorter (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
DNS Robbe Ghys (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNS Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
DSQ Christophe Noppe (Bel) Team Arkea-Samsic
DSQ Floris De Tier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix