Jerome Baugnies and Marco Marcato continued the great momentum for Wanty-Groupe Gobert by taking a memorable 1-2 in the Druivenkoers Overijse. Having made it into a 15-rider lead group, they joined forces with Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal) and it was Baugnies who made a winning attack before Marcato joined him in the finale to make it a fantastic day for the Belgian team.

Druivenkoers Overijse is known as Bjorn Leukemans’ race. The Belgian has won the one-day event four times in a row and after he recently won the GP Jef Scherens, he went into the 55th edition of the race as the man to beat.

However, it was another Wanty-Groupe Gobert rider who came out on top after the Belgian team had taken the initiative to make it hard. Jerome Baugnies made up for a hugely disappointing first part of the year by winning the race and as Marco Marcato finished second, it was a truly memorable day for the squad.

Wanty-Groupe Gobert had taken the initiative with around 50km to go on the hilly 12km finishing circuit that would be completed 8 times. They first split the field to pieces before they sent Marcato,, Baugnies and Leukemans on the attack, creating a 9-rider move.

A few more riders joined them to make it 15 riders in the front as they started the final lap. At this point, a strong chase group had lost the battle and was almost two minutes behind, meaning that the leaders would decide the race.

Marcato was the second card for the Belgians after Leukemans had tried the penultimate time up the Schavei climb, and he was joined by Sean De Bie. For a while, the gap hovered between 5 and 10 seconds and this allowed Baugnies to bridge the gap.

The trio won the battle as there was no cooperation among the chasers and so they had 22 seconds when they started the final 3km. As they hit Schavei for the final time, Baugnies took off and he immediately got a gap.

Marcato stayed on De Bie’s wheel until he felt that the Belgian was faded. That’s when he made his own attack and bridged the gap to Baugnies who was allowed to cross the line first, with the Italian taking second. De Bie rolled across the line in third while Maurits Lammertink (Roompot) was the fastest in the chase group.

Wanty-Groupe Gobert have a chance to continue their momentum on Sunday when the Schal Seels is the next race in the series of Belgian one-day races.

A hilly circuit race

The 55th Druivenkoers-Overijse was held on a 197.6km course that led the riders from Huldenberg to Overijse. First the riders tackled two laps of a 38km circuit with 8 climbs and then one lap of a smaller 25km circuit. Finally, they ended the race by doing eight laps of a 12km circuit with the climbs of the Tombeurstraat and Schaveistraat.

It was a hot and beautiful day when the riders gathered at the start. Dennis Herforth Jensen (ColoQuic) was absent as they rolled out for their neutral ride.

Lots of attacks

Daan Hoyeberghs (BKCP) and Nils Politt (Stölting) were the first attacked of the day and they were joined by Amund Grøndahl (Joker). However, the trio was brought back after 10km of racing.

Gorik Gardeyn (Veranclassic) was first at the top of the first climb while the attacking continued. Daan Hoeyberghs (BKCP-Powerplus), Jochem Hoekstra (Cycling Team Jo Piels), Maarten De Vries (Rabobank Development Team), Olivier Pardini (Verandas Willems) and Adrian Aas Stien (Team Joker) were the next to get an advantage and were joined by Sander Cordeel (Vastgoedservice) before they were brought back at the 25km mar.

The break is formed

After 36km of fast racing, Jochem Hoekstra (Cycling Team Jo Piels) and Vegard Stake Laengen (Team Joker) took off and they quickly got an advantage of 44 seconds. Reinier Honig (Roompot) and Dries Hollanders (Metec) took off in pursuit and they joined the leaders after a hard chase at a point when the gap was 1.28.

The peloton slowed down and so the escapees were 3.50 ahead at the 50km mark. They had extended it to 5.40 after 65km of racing and it went out to six minutes before things became more stable.

Bora-Argon 18 in control

Bora-Argon 18 had taken control of the peloton and kept the gap between the 5- and 6-minute marks before they accelerated. At the start of the first lap of the finishing circuit, the escapees were only 2.35 ahead as Bora-Argon 18 were now being assisted by Wanty and Lotto Soudal.

The peloton was now riding a lot fast and at the end of the first lap, the gap had been brought down to just 55 seconds. With 75km to go, it was down to just 16 seconds and moments later the junction was made.

New attacks

Just before the next passage of the line, Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) took off. He  was quicly brought back before a big crash split the peloton.

Martijn Degreve (team 3m) and Frederik Strand Galta (Team Coop-Oster) used the confusion to take off and managed to build a 28-second advantage with 63km to go. Stig Broeckx (Lotto Soudal) took off in pursuit but never made it.

Wanty-Groupe Gobert make their move

Instead, Wanty made the peloton split to pieces with a big acceleration that ended the day for the two leaders. As they hit the Schavei, they sent three riders on the attack and it was a 9-rider group with Daniel Schorn, Scott Thwaites (Bora-Argon 18), Jérome Baugnies, Bjorn Leukemans, Marco Marcato (Wany-Groupe Gobert), Gaetan Bille, Emiel Wastyn (Verandas Willems) and Maurits Lammertink (Team Roompot) that started the final four laps with a 5-second advantage.

The small gap allowed Tiesj Benoot, Vegard Breen, Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Jeroen Meijers (Rabobank Development Team), Oliver Naesen, Thomas Sprengers (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon 18), and Rob Ruijgh (Vastgoedservice Golden Palace) to bridge the gap while Wastyn was left behind.

The chasers lose ground

With 3 laps to go, the gap was 20 seconds and now a 20-rider chase group with Stig Broeckx, Dennis Vanendert (Lotto-Soudal), Mike Terpstra (Team Roompot), Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) Xandro Meurisse (An Post-Chain Reaction), Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus), Joeri Stallaert (Cibel), Jarno Gmelich, Oscar Riesebeek (Metec-TKH Continental Cycling Team), Martijn Degreve, Dimitri Peyskens (team 3m), August Jensen (Team Coop-Oster Plus), Emiel Wastyn (Verandas Willems), Gregory Habeaux (Wallonie -Bruxelles) and Dennis Coenen (Realty Service Golden Palace) formed. However, they were losing ground and at the start of the penultimate lap, they were 1.05 behind while the peloton was at 2.10.

De Bie tried an unsuccessful attack while the front group extended their advantage to 1.30. Meanwhile, Thwaites was dropped.

Marcato and De Bie take off

As they hit Schavei, Leukemans and Benoot attacked but they were caught just as they started the final lap. Here, Schllinger was left behind.

De Bie and Marcato were next to try and got an advantage of 10 seconds. It was a big fight between the two groups and Baugnies managed to bridge across.

Baugnies attacks

With 5km to go, the gap had gone out to 15 seconds and as there was no cooperation in the chasee group, the leaders had an advantage of 26 seconds with 3km to go. Moments later Baugnies attacked on Schavei while Leukemans rode away from the chase group, followed by Naesen and Sprengers.

With 2km to go, Baugnies had an advantage of 9 seconds and that was enough for him to hold his chasers off. Marcato joined him inside the final kilometre to make it a 1-2 for Wanty.