Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) made it three in a row at Nokere Koerse, blasting out of a reduced peloton on the Nokereberg to victory.
Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) appeared to be stuck in too big a gear and muscled his way to second several bike lengths in arrears. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was third.
In the frantic battle for position, Merlier, in trying to avoid running into another rider, bumped Philipsen's teammate Jonas Rickaert, sending him sprawling and sparking a chain-reaction crash.
"I collided with Jonas Rickaert during the crash, I hope he is OK," Merlier said.
"My chain came off for a moment and I was also affected by the moment, so it was a bit of a panic. I wanted to shout at my train to tell them to stop, because I wasn't with them."
Merlier then struggled to get into the correct gear but once he did, he opened up the jets and his rivals had no response. He sprinted from the base of the final climb to the top without looking back.
"Suddenly I got into the slipstream and I saw a gap. I thought: I'll try it from afar like the previous two years and then we'll see."
Now the undisputed king of the Nokereberg, a climb close to his home, Merlier had an emotional celebration with his family after two long months on the road notching up five other victories at the AlUla Tour and UAE Tour.
"It means a lot because it is the first time my son has come to watch a race. I almost cried after the finish," Merlier said.
"For the rest, it is always nice to win five kilometers from your door. That it is already my 6th victory this season? I am very satisfied with my sprint!"
How it unfolded
Six riders made the day's breakaway after the early attacks: Unai Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Victor Vercouillie and Yentl Vandevelde (Flanders-Baloise), Abram Stockman (TDT-Unibet), Aaron Van Der Beken (Bingoal WB) and Alex Vandenbulcke (Tarteletto-Isorex).
They gained around four minutes on the peloton over the first half of the race, holding that gap to the first trip over the Nokereberg signalling the start of the three finishing circuits.
An attack from Van der Beken, Stockman and Vandevelde disrupted the cooperation. Van Der Beken won the Nokereberg sprint toward the prize of a year of free petrol at the top and the lead group reformed on the other side.
The peloton whittled the breakaway's gap to half a minute by the end of the first circuit even after a crash from three Arkéa-B&B Hotels riders interrupted their efforts.
Stockman and Van der Beken attacked on the Nokereberg with two laps to go and this time the lead group did not reform. Stockman kept powering after leading over the climb, stretching his advantage to a minute on the Soudal-QuickStep-led peloton.
His former companions kept riding together but were finally reeled in by the bunch with 46.5km to go, and Stockman's time out front didn't last much longer. Stockman finally was caught on a cobbled sector with 37 km to go.
The peloton came into the Nokereberg with one lap to go all together until Stockman surged out of the bunch to secure the prize for the KOM.
While he didn't join the subsequent attacks, Lidl-Trek and Lotto-Dstny did. Daan Houle (Lidl-Trek) sparked the next move and was joined by Sébastien Grignard and Lorenz Van De Wynkele.
Soudal-Quickstep snuffed out the move.
Houle was near the front when Ineos' Kim Haiduk lost traction in a turn and Houle, trying to avoid him, rode into a culvert, with both falling into the drink.
The peloton stayed together despite several surges until 7km to go when Ineos attacked, drawing out four riders including American Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep), who refused to pull through.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was wise to the danger and quickly scrambled across. It was a wasted effort, however, as the peloton caught back up.
On the cobbles of the Huisepontweg inside 5km to go, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) attacked, forcing Soudal-QuickStep and Lotto-Dstny to chase.
The peloton caught Wellens with 2km to go. A crash on the run-in to the Nokereberg left only 20 or so riders contesting the finish.
Tim Merlier had the timing right, however, and won by several bike lengths for the third year in a row.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
