Dwars door Vlaanderen 2017: Yves Lampaert soloes to victory

At 203.3 kilometres, Dwars door Vlaanderen takes in almost 10 kilometres on cobbles and twelve sharp Flemish hills. Yves Lampaert attacks just before the last cobbled sector with 7 kilometres left to solo to victory. His team-mate Philippe Gilbert takes the sprint in the chasing group ahead of Alexei Lutsenko. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results Dwars door Vlaanderen 2017

1. Yves Lampaert (bel)
2. Philippe Gilbert (bel) + 0.39
3. Alexey Loetsenko (kaz) s.t.
4. Luke Durbridge (aus) s.t.
5. Dylan Groenewegen (nld) + 1.03
6. Oliver Naesen (bel) s.t.
7. Tiesj Benoot (bel) s.t.
8. Dylan van Baarle (bel) s.t.
9. Mitchel Docker (aus) s.t.
10. Florian Senechal (fra) s.t.

Race report
Ben Perry, Michael Goolaerts, Lawrence Naesen (Oliver’s younger brother), Ivan Savitsky and Kenneth Vanbilsen create the first proper gap, while Jon Ander Insausti bridges over. They race to a lead of more than 6 minutes.

The gap is down to less than 1 minute when Gilbert accelerates on the Berendries. With among others Modolo, Teuns, Groenewegen, Wallays, Lampaert, Vliegen, Teunissen, Hayman, Breschel, Lutsenko, Marcato and Durbridge he closes the gap.

Lutsenko pushes hard on Oude Kwaremont and after the Paterberg Gilbert, Lampaert, Durbridge and Lutsenko are the only riders left in the front group.

Moments before the last cobbled sector – Herlegemstraat with 6.7 kilometres left – Lampaert heads out on his own. Durbridge almost brings him back but when hitting the cobbles the Flemish rider is off. He soloes to victory, while his team-mate Gilbert sprints to second place ahead of Alexei Lutsenko.

Read about the route of Dwars door Vlaanderen 2017.