Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) powered to victory atop the Col du Horlitin to claim victory in the Circuit Franco Belge.
The Eritrean played off a late attack from teammate Lorenzo Rota, then patiently waited for his rivals to burn themselves out on the final climb before sprinting to the line in a perfectly timed acceleration.
Axel Zingle (Cofidis) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively.
"I would like to thank my teammates who did everything to allow me to achieve this great victory, which has a special flavour it was on the home soil of our sponsors and started in front of our service course," Girmay said.
"I am so happy to be able to finish their hard work, which lasted from the first to the last kilometer, I had to reward them. I told them that I felt very good, we had total control of the race and managed the final intelligently, especially with Lorenzo Rota on the attack. I asked Hugo Page to launch the sprint from far so that I could finish it off."
It's Girmay's first win since the Surf Coast Classic in January.
"This victory feels good. The season started very well for me in Australia, but after that, I wasn't able to show my full potential in the classics due to bad luck," GIrmay said. "But I always kept believing in myself and working hard, which allowed me to be at the start of the Giro in good shape."
The Giro d'Italia didn't work out for Girmay, who crashed out on stage 4, but he made a quick return less than two weeks later and worked his way to second at the Rund um Köln over the weekend before his win today.
"I really wanted to make the most of this good form in a series of one day races, and after a few good performances, I felt very confident for today. Our team really deserved this victory. I hope to continue like this in the Brussels Cycling Classic this Sunday, and continue my preparation for the Tour de France."
How it unfolded
The 190.6km route was riddled with bergs, in particular in the second half of the race when riders had to tackle a circuit that included the Col du Horlitin and Trieu-Knokteberg as well as a third climb that gave intermediate sprint prizes on each of the five laps.
Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders-Baloise), Nathan Smith (Novo Nordisk), Maximilien Juillard (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Martijn Rasenberg (Parkhotel Valkenburg), and Theo Bonnet (Philippe Wagner/Bazin) made the early breakaway, building a lead of almost five minutes before Intermarché and Alpecin-Deceuninck started to bring the gap down.
Rasenberg won the first three intermediate sprints, while Vercouille won the first two KOMs on the Col du Horlitin and Trieu-Knokteberg.
However, the gap was down to a minute as they started the circuits and when the breakaway hit the Col du Horlitin with 68.9 km to go, their gap was plummeting rapidly.
Bonnet surged on the climb, and only Rasenberg could hold his wheel, but their time out front came to an end a short time later. With 60.4km to go, the peloton was back together.
On the next trip over the Knokteberg, the peloton stretched out, and gaps began to open. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) launched a move after the descent. He was joined by Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) and Jérémy Leveau (Van Rysel-Roubaix) to make a second attack.
However, Leveau couldn't hang on in the next climb. The duo ahead built up a lead of almost a minute, but they were back in the fold with 24.6km to go.
Sjoerd Bax (UAE Team Emirates), Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty), and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) escaped on the Knokteberg on the final lap and held a 10-second lead heading toward the final kilometre but had to tackle the Col du Horlitin for the final time to get to the finish line.
Tiller kept going as his two companions sat up but was caught, and Girmay won the sprint to the line.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
