John Degenkolb has sprinted to second place in what turned out to be a tough, wet and windy Binche-Chimay-Binche in Belgium. John was looking to keep the victory in-house after Reinardt Janse van Rensburg won here last season, but a late attack foiled his chances of taking the sprint from a small select front group.

The race rolled out under darkening skies for 194km over a typically Belgian parcours that featured exposed flatlands, cobbles, road furniture and tight twisty roads to negotiate. The attacking was consistent from the off and the race struggled to define a breakaway out front. The first major group to establish itself was a break of ten riders that moves clear in the crosswinds, with the peloton behind splintering into several groups.

At the mid-way point these ten has just under a minute over the first peloton and Team Giant-Shimano were sitting in a good position with Nikias Arndt in the move and John surrounded by teammates in the front group behind. As the chase behind the leaders picked up, the group split with four riders moving clear, including Nikias.

Nikias unfortunately came down on a wet right hand bend as the rain started to fall and make the roads slippery. This saw him return to the front peloton and also spelt an end to the front group.

The race was all but back together with three laps to go, 48km to race, and this junction sparked the attacks once again. The front of the race was down to approximately 50 riders by this point, with John still having Roy Curvers, Koen De Kort and Tom Stamsnijder for company. They kept their cool and let another small group slide clear before starting to pick up the chase later on.

The gap lingered at around a minute for some time and the advantage looked to be swinging towards the breakaway but after a concerted effort by the team they managed to bring things back and with six kilometres to race the group was back together again.

As the race headed towards the finish for the final time John was well positioned at the front of the group, but there was little he could do to respond to a strong attack from Zydenek Stybar (OPQS) on the short, sharp cobbled climb with around 900m to go. He chased hard and got some help from others but Stybar had enough of a gap to stay clear, with John taking the sprint for second behind as riders came over the line in one’s and two’s, caked in dirt and showing the signs of a tough day out on the roads of Belgium.

“Having a strong mentality was important today and this made it possible for us to keep going at the end and to really go for it behind the six riders in the last kilometres. We were still there with four including John and we managed to close a minute in the last 10-15km to six strong riders,” Roy Curvers said after the finish to the Giant website.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t do a good lead-out but with the finish here it is not easy and with the final hill at the end it is pretty much everyone for himself. Second place in a tough race like this is still a good result and given the stage of the season we can be happy with how we rode together,” he continued.

“My form is actually building again as I had a short racing break for the birth of my daughter. I felt good today though and am coming on well before Paris-Tours on Sunday.”