E3 Harelbeke 2017 [FULL RACE]

March 24, 2017
E3 Harelbeke 2017 – Harelbeke – Harelbeke – 206 km

The 2017 Record Bank E3 Harelbeke is a road cycling one-day race that took place on 24 March. It was the 60th edition of the E3 Harelbeke and was the eleventh event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) hung his placard on the top rung of the rack of Tour of Flanders contenders, taking out his second victory of the season in the E3 Harelbeke.

The Belgian out-sprinted his former teammate Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), with fellow escapee Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) taking the final podium spot.

“I was happy how I felt. I didn’t feel so good on Wednesday but I’m happy things are not so bad,” Van Avermaet said after fighting a cold earlier in the week.

Van Avermaet played down suggestions that riders who win E3 are the overwhelming favourites for the Tour of Flanders.

“I don’t know. I was never so good here, I was never on the podium and I was always good in Flanders. It’s just nice to win a Classic in Flanders and I think E3 is one of the nicest ones. It gives a lot of confidence for Flanders. I’m just happy to have two nice victories in my pocket and hopefully the third will come next week.”

The winning trio formed out of a six man group that bridged to the early breakaway, distancing themselves from the rest on the Oude Kwaremont and then cooperating until the finish line was in sight. Gilbert, stuck on the front, kept looking back waiting for one of his rivals to open up the sprint. Naesen finally lost patience and jumped, but it was too soon and Van Avermaet surged past with the form expected of an Olympic champion.

Gilbert made it close, but no cigar as Van Avermaet took the win by a quarter wheel, with Naesen’s third place the best result of his career to date.

How it unfolded

The countdown to the Tour of Flanders continued with the E3 Harelbeke, which departed under sunny skies for 206.1km of mayhem.

The opening kilometers were marked by a series of crashes, some inconsequential, but some not – Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) abandoned after a nasty crash left him howling in pain and clutching his left knee.

It wasn’t until the second hour that a breakaway could go clear, and when they finally did they quickly opened up a lead of just under five minutes.

Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Laurens De Vreese (Astana), David Per (Bahrain-Merida), Gijs van Hoecke (LottoNl-Jumbo), Taco van der Hoorn (Roompot), and Christophe Masson (WB Veranclassic) were the lucky ones to make the move.

Dries de Bondt (Veranda’s Willems) chased solo for a long time before finally joining up with Tom Van Aesbroeck (Cannondale-Drapac) and Mickael Delage (FDJ) in no-man’s land, but were dangling precariously in front of the peloton as they reached the midpoint of the hellingen region.

Olivier Le Gac (FDJ) attacked from the peloton with 75km to go, but his move didn’t last long, as Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) stretched his legs on Taaienberg. The acceleration halved the advantage of the leaders, bringing it to just 1:26.

Boonen’s attack was closely marked by BMC’s Daniel Oss, and soon after a counter-attack came from Gilbert, who was joined by Van Avermaet, Naesen and Lukas Postlberger (Bora-hansgrohe). They caught the Van Aesbroeck group with 66km to go on the Boindeberg.

Sep Vanmarcke then bridged across with Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott), his efforts helped by Van Aesbroeck, who was then dropped on the Eikenberg, along with Delage and de Bondt.

Behind, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) tried to go across several times, but was heavily marked. The sextet caught the leaders with 59km to go making 12 up front, with a precarious 48 seconds on the field.

Behind, Sagan tried again to go across, but each time he was reeled back in, and finally with 42km to go was taken down in a crash. Although he quickly bounced up and remounted, repeated issues with his bike meant his race was over.

Soon, all of the early escapees were ridden off the wheels of the lead group, pushed by Gilbert. Only De Vreese was left, making it seven riders with 1:10 at 38km to go.

Naesen pushed the pace on the Oude Kwaremont and put Vanmarcke, Durbridge, Postlberger and De Vreese out the back, and found himself in the company of the two Classics giants, Gilbert and Van Avermaet.

Durbridge and Postlberger, and further back De Vreese and Vanmarcke, valiantly continued to chase the lead trio, but could not make up ground. Meanwhile, Trek-Segafredo desperately tried to get a group working to go across, but were thwarted by the Quick-Step team.

Their efforts reeled in De Vreese and Vanmarcke on the Karnemelkbeekstraat with 30km to go, but Durbridge and Pöstlberger kept going, but it became increasingly clear they were racing for fourth place.

Delage still looked comfortable as the leaders hit the Varentstraat with 23km to go, holding a lead of 1:52 on the chasing bunch. But that all changed on the Tiegemberg with 20km to go when the AG2R rider was gapped by Gilbert’s pace. But he rallied and chased back on the descent.

The trio worked well together with the climbs behind them, coming into the final 3km with almost two minutes on the chasers.

Into the final kilometer, Gilbert started looking back to watch Van Avermaet in second, with Naeson tacked on, patiently waiting. Gilbert took it into the finish like a trackie, looking back all the time, waiting for the first attack, which came from Naesen.

Results :

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 4:48:17
2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
3 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:40
5 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:41
6 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:52
7 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
8 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
9 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
11 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
12 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-Scott
13 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
14 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
15 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
16 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
17 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
18 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) FDJ
19 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
20 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
21 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
22 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:57
23 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:53
24 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-Scott 0:02:12
25 Borut Bozic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
26 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
27 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
28 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb
29 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) FDJ
30 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data
31 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
32 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
33 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
34 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
35 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
36 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
37 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Orica-Scott
38 Taco Van Der Hoorn (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
39 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team
40 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
41 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
42 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
43 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Team LottNl-Jumbo
44 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
45 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
46 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
47 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
48 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
49 Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
50 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
51 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
52 Kevyn Ista (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
53 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:16
54 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
55 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
56 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
57 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
58 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Orica-Scott
59 Thomas Scully (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac
60 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Direct Energie
61 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie
62 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:02:20
63 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
64 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:29
65 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data 0:02:43
66 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:15
67 Aleksei Tcatevich (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
68 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
69 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
70 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
71 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
72 Michael Morkov (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
73 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
74 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
75 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
76 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
77 Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ
78 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
79 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
80 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
81 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:08:36
82 Elmar Reinders (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
83 Twan Castelijns (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
84 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
85 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ
86 Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team
87 Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
88 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
89 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie
90 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
91 Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
92 Julien Vermote (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
93 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
94 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
95 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team
96 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
97 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
98 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:39
99 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 0:10:45
100 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
101 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
102 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
103 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
104 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
105 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
106 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie
107 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
108 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie
110 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
111 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
112 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
DNF Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
DNF Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
DNF Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Matti Breschel (Den) Astana Pro Team
DNF Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
DNF Andrey Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team
DNF Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
DNF Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
DNF Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF David Per (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Ion Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
DNF Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors
DNF Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Bahrain-Merida
DNF Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Elias Van Breussegem (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Stef Van Zummeren (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Gaetan Bille (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Dries De Bondt (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
DNF Alex Kirsch (Lux) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Christophe Masson (Fra) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
DNF Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
DNF Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
DNF Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Coen Vermeltfoort (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Brian Van Goethem (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
DNF Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
DNF Ludwig De Winter (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
DNF Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie
DNF Jimmy Duquennoy (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Julien Stassen (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Ludovic Robeet (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Lawrence Naesen (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect
DNF Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
DNF Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
DNF Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data
DNF Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
DNF Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-Scott
DNF Roger Kluge (Ger) Orica-Scott
DNF Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
DNF Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
DNF Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
DNF Marc Sarreau (Fra) FDJ
DNF Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
DNF Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) FDJ
DNF Marc Fournier (Fra) FDJ
DNF Mitch Docker (Aus) Orica-Scott
DNF Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Simone Antonini (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
DNF Zico Waeytens (Bel) Team Sunweb
DNF Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac
DNF Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
DNF Robert Wagner (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
DNF Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
DNF Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo