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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) enjoyed a winning return to road racing at Ename Samyn Classic, sprinting to victory from a select lead group on the uphill finish of the semi-Classic in Dour.
The Dutchman led home Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) at the end of the 199km cobbled one-day race, while Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) rounded out the podium in third place.
Van der Poel went long on the uphill finish, hitting the wind with a full 200 metres to go and blasting to the front ahead of Magnier, Jeannière, and other fast finishers including Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Hugo Hofstetter (Israel-Premier Tech).
Nobody could match his powerful acceleration, though, with Magnier coming closest before the Frenchman had to sit back down in the saddle and admit defeat.
Van der Poel crossed the line well ahead of second place, while Jeannière came home further back, beating out Biermans and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) to the final spot on the podium.
“I was feeling pretty strong already during the race, but it wasn’t hard enough to make a difference. There were a lot of people watching me,” Van der Poel said after his win.
“At 50km from the finish I said to my teammates I’ll save my legs to go for the sprint because I knew that on a finish like this, I’m capable of winning. So, that’s what I did and I’m very happy with this win.”
How it unfolded
The 57th edition of Le Samyn – now known as the Ename Samyn Classic – would take the peloton on a 199km route from Quaregnon to Dour. The route included numerous cobbled sectors and nine hills, all located on the three-and-a-half closing laps around Dour.
A breakaway would take a little while to go amid battles to make the move at the start of the race. The move went almost 30km out from the start with seven riders filling the group.
Sebastian Grindley (Lidl-Trek) was joined in the breakaway by Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Joren Bloem (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Loïc Vliegen (Wagner Bazin WB), Silas Köch (Lotto-Kern Haus-PSD Bank), Hidde Van Veenendaal (Beat Cycling Club), Stijn Daemen (VolkerWessels), and Guillaume Visser (Diftar).
Back in the peloton, the biggest teams in the peloton – including Mathieu van der Poel’s Alpecin-Deceuninck – took control at the front as they let the break get three minutes up the road.
At the midway mark, the break was 2:45 up the road and it would be a while before any major moves were made at the front. With 87km to go, the riders passed the finish line for the first time to get the closing laps underway, the break’s advantage still holding firm.
The situation wouldn’t remain the same for too much longer, however, as attacks started to go at the front of the peloton, led by Alpecin-Deceuninck at the 65km mark. Timo Kielich and Mathieu van der Poel were the riders in question, putting in a pair of testing moves as the peloton got within a minute of the breakaway.
Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) was another notable name to try an attack, with both he and Van der Poel trying again with 50km to go. By that point, the breakaway had been hauled in, and there were moves going minute by minute at the front.
Racing into the final 40km, another group went clear. Van der Hoorn was in there, with the Dutchman joined in the attack by Lewis Bower (Groupama-FDJ), Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Martin Svrček (Soudal-QuickStep).
Cedric Beullens (Lotto), Thomas Gachinard (TotalEnergies), Axel Huens (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Noah Vandenbranden (Flanders-Baloise), and Killian Théot (Van Rysel-Roubaix) also went along for the ride to fill out the nine-rider attacking group.
The new break got 15 seconds up the road before Uno-X Mobility took up the work back in the peloton to try and keep the situation under control. They saw Arkéa-B&B Hotels and Lidl-Trek join in the pacemaking, holding the gap to 10 seconds as the race closed in on the final 20km.
With 19km to go, and the break still to be caught, misfortune struck Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), who was forced to stop for a bike change with very unlucky timing. As the Belgian champion attempted to chase back on, the peloton closed to within a handful of seconds of the leaders, eventually bringing them back 15km from the line.
De Lie was back on before the closing 10km and in the mix at the front of the peloton, while right on the front it was Kielich who led Van der Poel towards the final kilometres of the race.
Luca Van Boven (Intermarché-Wanty) made a move at 7km to go, drawing out Kielich and Alec Segaerts (Lotto) in the process. The move was done and dusted at 4 to go, however, setting up a grand finale on the charge back to Dour.
Florian Sénèchal (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) made an effort on the day’s final cobbled sector at 2km out, though it was all together at the front heading to the uphill ramp of the finish.
There was no properly organised lead-out train on the short run to the line, though Astana looked the most organised in the final kilometre with two up front. Van der Poel’s power told, however, with the former world champion powering to the front and proving unmatchable in the closing metres.
Results
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