Brussels (AFP)
Belgian Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck - Quickstep) won on Wednesday solo Bruges-La Panne (ex Trois jours de La Panne), the last of the one-day races of the season, marked by the spectacular fall of Mathieu Van der Poel in a pit.
Coming out of a group that still included seven runners seven kilometers from the goal, including the Danish Kasper Asgreen, the German Johan Degenkolb or the Italian Matteo Trentin (CCC), Lampaert took advantage of the work of his team to tame his opponents but also the natural elements (rain, wind) which caused some edges and falls.
The most spectacular of them was undoubtedly that of which the great favorite and recent winner of the Tour of Flanders, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), fell into a ditch 17 kilometers from the finish and was forced to the abandonment.
This race, which was initially to be contested over a little over 200 kilometers on the Belgian coast, was finally reduced by a small twenty kilometers in the final due to the gusts of wind which made the passage through the Polders particularly dangerous.
On the prize list of this event which was initially to be held in the spring, Lampaert succeeds the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), winner last year.
He is accompanied on the podium by two other Belgian riders, his teammate Tim Declecrq, 2nd, as well as Tim Merlier, 3rd.
"It's a relief for me," said the Flandrian, who suffered a broken collarbone in early August, after his first success of the season.
"I had great legs and that's why I tried my luck thanks to the superb work of my team. After that, we had to hold on and stay alert all the time because the wind was scary. We saw it with Mathieu van der Poel: the slightest second of inattention could be expensive, "continued Yves Lampaert.
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