A powerful sprint from a seven-rider breakaway has netted Benoit Cosnefroy a resounding victory in De Brabantse Pijl, succeeding his teammate Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale Dorion Godon as winner of the mid-week Belgian Classic.
Cosnefroy crossed the line with a comfortable advantage ahead of Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and former winner Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates).
After a fast and furious opening segment of the hilly, cobbled one-day race in central Belgium failed to produce any breakaways with an advantage higher than two minutes, Wellens, Teuns and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) finally eked out a minimal gap in the final 35 kilometres.
Joined by four more riders as the finish and final climb of 22 short punchy ascents, approached, Van den Berg attempted a long-distance attack, only to be caught 500 metres from the line.
Teuns’ young teammate Joseph Blackmore led out the sprint, only for Cosnefroy to come past and clinch his fourth win of the season.
“I’m very pleased finally to get this,” Cosnefroy, three times a podium finisher in Brabantse Pijl but only a winner for the first time in 2024, said afterwards. “I made a gesture [pointing at the ground] like that because I feel like this is a second home for me.
“It’s never easy to win a race, but I had good legs this morning. I felt like I was one of the favourites. But when I got in the group of seven, it was ideal for me, and when Van den Berg tried to go clear, I was actually pleased because I thought—great, that’s one less rider for the sprint.
“In the final, I got on Dylan’s wheel because I knew he was the fastest of those left, and when he went for it, I was worried that he might have got it. But there was a headwind, and I could find a bit more to come past him.”
How it unfolded
Perhaps the 2024 race was held on a slightly easier course, with three ascents and 15 kilometres less than in 2023, or perhaps it was because of the warmer weather and the absence of a standout favourite in the start list. Whatever the reason, the 63rd edition of De Brabantse Pijl got off to a sizzlingly fast start, and the pace subsequently never stopped all the way to the finish at Overisje.
For well over an hour, nothing like a solid break emerged. Then even after Jordi Warlop (Soudal-QuickStep), Tomas Kopecky (TDT-Unibet), Alan Riou (Arkéa-B&B), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Jens Reynders (Bingoal-WB), Dylan Vandenstorme (Flanders-Baloise), Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies), Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) sheered clear, both Decathlon-AG2R and Alpecin-Deceuninck were so determined to keep a lid on proceedings that the race leaders’ margin never got any higher than 1:50.
Such was the speed that with 68 kilometres to go, the eight-man break fell apart almost of its own volition despite Warlop’s best efforts to keep the ball in the air for just a little longer. Warlop’s surrender to the peloton was the signal for a number of short-lived moves to go clear, too, starting when Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dstny) followed in the wake of Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) and Antoine Huby (Soudal-Quick Step). Yet if that relatively small attack folded almost instantly, another much bigger group enjoyed equally poor luck: the ten-man group containing final winner Cosnefroy, Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Segaert, Lawson Craddock (Jayco-AIUIa) and the promising young Portuguese pro, Antonio Morgado (UAE Team Emirates) barely endured 10 kilometres at most, only for EF Education-EasyPost to put the race back at square one again.
It felt truly remarkable for a race with such a relentless series of climbs, many of them cobbled, for any move to fail to gain traction and talk amongst TV commentators about how, for once, Brabantse Pijl might come down to a rare uphill bunch sprint was getting more and more frequent. Instead, some kind of more expected pattern finally came clear when, with 33 kilometres to go on the viciously steep Moskesstraat climb, there was a pronounced acceleration by Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) followed by former winner Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost).
This looked like the move of the day, with all three riders sure of a podium spot at least, but Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto-Dstny were equally aware of the danger. A gifted sprinter and recent winner of Circuit de la Sarthe, Van den Berg’s powerhouse abilities proved even more invaluable to the leading trio on the race’s few flat segments, while Wellens and Teuns were able to handle the pace on the climbs. After being recently caught on the line in Flanders when battling for a podium place behind Mathieu van der Poel, of course, Teuns could hardly have been more motivated to get some sporting revenge, too - and certainly, he and Wellens worked well together to try to keep clear.
Coming through the barriers for the second last time in the warm sunshine, the trio still only had a 25-second advantage as TotalEnergies Dries van Gestel and former double podium finisher Michael Matthews (Jayco-AIUIa) attempted to bridge across. But by this point in such a fast and furious race with no break in the action, everybody’s strength was ebbing fast, and some serious collaboration was going to be necessary to bring the trio back.
Decathlon-AG2R’s determined drive ultimately proved to be the most effective, and Van den Berg pushed so hard he all but caused Teuns to crack on the last ascent of the Moskestraat - and behind him, the entire peloton to shatter. First Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Quinten Hermans, though, bridged across on the fast descent, and then on the steadily rising Holstheide, Benoit Cosnefroy (Decathlon-AG2R) made it five in front, followed by Joseph Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA racer Jefferson Cepeda.
It looked like this move would stick, but with only 25-30 seconds between the first rider and the 40th at the front of the race with five kilometres left to go, the race was still far too close to call.
Blackmore went straight to the front to work for his teammate Teuns, and this time round, the move of seven ahead could finally stick. About 2.5 kilometres from the line, though, Van den Berg suddenly upped the pace a little on the left-hand side of the road, and after the rider behind him failed to follow, the Dutchman just kept on going.
Brought back with 500 metres to go on the last uphill, Israel-Premier Tech made use of their slight superiority in numbers for Blackmore to lead out Teuns for the sprint. But Cosnefroy, third last year, was stuck firmly to Teuns back wheel and had more than enough strength to blast past and take Decathlon’s ninth win of the season by over a bike length.
Results
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