Yves Lampaert wins second straight Dwars Door Vlaanderen in atrocious conditions

Yves Lampaert took victory in west Flanders for the second time in as many years in a Dwars Door Vlaanderen blighted by wind and rain.

Image result for yves lampaert dwars door vlaanderen 2018
Quick-Step Floors have now won seven of a possible eight Belgian one-day races in 2018
Photo credit: cyclingweekly.com 
Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First-Drapac) and Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb) went clear with 25km to go and came into the final kilometre on equal terms, but it was defending champion Lampaert who attacked early and by the time the others reacted he had already assured himself of the win for a second consecutive year. 

 Lampaert rolled across the line with his arms aloft, while Teuissen, Vanmarcke, Boasson Hagen and Pedersen battled to second, third, fourth and fifth respectively. 

 Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) and Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing) - who'd lit up the race some 30km before the finish - came in seventh and eighth. 

The Race

No breakaway established itself in the early part of the race. The atrocious combination of rain and swirling wind were proving a concern and no riders looked too keen to attack. A few riders did open gaps but nothing significant. 

The race finally broke apart after 80km of racing, with the returning Luke Rowe pushing off the front of the Team Sky led peloton and taking a minutes advantage.

As the race took on the Kluisberg for the second time Rowe's lead was down to 25-seconds with 70km still remaining and was caught for good with 66km to go.

The peloton split apart with 60km remaining as Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors) and Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) asserted some impetus on the front, snapping the elastic between those struggling to hang on and those strong enough to remain in contention.

So much was the effort by former world champion Martin that he started distancing the group and over the pavé of MariaBorrestraat had a gap of 12-seconds, but his lead was obliterated instantly when he crashed on a tight bend on the next section of cobbles.

Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) applied more pressure as he powered ahead on the Taaienberg, whittling the front group down to around 30 riders with 50km to go.

John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) were next to put in attacks and further reduced the pack down to 11 riders with a chasing group of 30 just 10-seconds behind.

LottoNL-Jumbo were at the head of the chasing group and brought the front 11 back with 34km remaining as the race took on the Knokteberg. 

Benoot and Avermaet used the murderous gradients of the Knokteberg as a platform to attack and quickly forged a gap of several seconds. 

As the race took on the Varent pavé, Van Avermaet and Benoot had eight seconds to the 12 chasers, and a further 35-seconds to the second chasing group.

The pavé however appeared to hinder Van Avermaet and Benoot as they were brought back with 25km remaining.

Vanmarcke and Lampaert countered in the race defining move and were followed by Boasson Hagen, Teunissen and Pederson. The five instantly smashed open a gap of 20-seconds to a second group of eight; Benoot, Van Avermaet, Valverde, Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Stybar and Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Gianni Moscon (Team Sky).

The front five had 32-seconds as they began the Holstraat climb and it grew to 45-seconds inside 10km to go.

Vanmarcke drove hard on the final cobbled section with 5km to go but didn't manage to get away. All five men, assured that one would win, began the tactical games as each took a punch at the front before sitting up.

Danish champion Pedersen shot off first inside 1.3km but the group slowed down almost straight away as it became a track-style juke as to who would sprint for the line first. 

While everyone was looking at each other, Lampaert veered over the left-hand side of the road and went for a long one, but no one went with him.

By the time the other four reacted he was so far ahead there was no chance for anyone to catch him and he calmly rolled over the line to win his second straight Dwars Door Vlaanderen.

Dwars Door Vlaanderen 2018 Result

1. Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) in 4:09:40
2. Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb) at 2"
3. Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First-Drapac) at 2"
4. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) at 2"
5. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) at 2"
6. Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) at 29"
7. Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) at 30"
8. Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing) at 59"
9. Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) at 59"
10. Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) at 59"

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