Today’s Le Samyn featured our season debut. A really strong field together with a challenging parcour were on the menu for seven of our talents as we got our season underway. The race was off to a fast start as it took more than one hour of racing to form the breakaway. Eventually, it was a group of five riders the ones that went up the road, with the bunch allowing a maximum gap of a bit over three minutes.

Once the race hit the roads of the local laps the pace was picked up and the gap to the front group quickly came down. The junction happened with 50 km left, but shortly after bad luck hit us as Maikel Zijlaard was involved in a crash that brought him down and required a bike change, while the front group rode away. No major injuries were sustained by the talented Dutch rider, as he was quickly set to chase the leading group. The final part of the race unfolded with many attackers trying to get clear from the leading bunch, but they were all eventually brought back. Daan Hoole entered into the last cobbled section in the main group, and despite a 5-man group going up the road with less than 3 km to go, they were brought back and the win was decided in a reduced bunch sprint.  After holding on to the constant attacks of World Class Classics specialists, Daan Hoole crossed the line in a hard-fought 18th place in the day, which previews a really strong season on his end. 

Our next race will GP Monsere on the 7th of March. 

Daan Hoole, looks back to his race: 
“I felt strong today and was aiming for a good result so happy to get Top 20. And also really happy with how I was feeling in a big race like this one. The team rode also super strong, always in the right position. Looking forward to the next race this Sunday”