Michael Valgren was the Great Dane as the Astana rider took his second open day classic following his victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February, and once again he benefitted from Astana’s hard work and tactical management of the closing kilometres. The presence of teammate Jakob Fulsgang in the final group of eight that would decide the race winner, and that, combined with the great hesitation of the 6 favourites who made it to the final selection played a key part in his victory.
With 2.5 kilometres left to go, Valgren, who had been nestled in the group whilst Fulsgang for much of the last 15 kilometres, finally managed to get away and when he had a gap of about 50 meters he was joined by Roman Kreuziger (Mitchelton-Scott). Kreuziger, a former teammate of Peter Sagan, was given full licence by the world champion -once again unwilling to drag a group to the finish line – to push ahead and a gap was made that wouldn’t be breached by anyone but Enrico Gasparotto of Bahrain-Merida, who made a concerted effort after Sagan pulled over and looked at his rivals.
Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) tried to join him by the remaining group was too heavy now and the front pairing were away, with a lead of nearly 10 seconds as they approached the Flamme Rouge, and they had enough time to make each other before the sprint, which was much like last year as Kreuziger went first but was looked after over six hours in the saddle and Valgren eventually took a rather easy win, with time to salute before the line.
Gasparotto just missed the chance to contest the sprint in third, two seconds back, and Peter Sagan easily won the sprint from the rest of the main contenders, beating Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde, Tim Wellens and Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe, who had been one of the most active attackers all day but who found himself on the wrong side of the tactical domination that Quick-Step have dished out with such aplomb.
Top 10
1 Michael Valgren (Astana Pro Team)
2 Roman Kreuziger (Mitchelton-Scott)
3 Enrico Gasparotto (Bahrain-Merida)
4 Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
5 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team)
6 Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
7 Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step)
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team)
9 Lawson Craddock (EF-Education First)
10 Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Soudal)
