Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) claimed his first win of the season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with a consummate performance that was capped by a sprint finish that saw off world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal).
The trio had been part of an elite group that had initially formed Taaienberg along with Luke Rowe (Team Sky). Despite a late charge from the peloton the break stayed clear.
In the sprint, Van Avermaet hit out first with Sagan and Benoot fighting for his wheel. The BMC Racing rider created a small gap and it was enough to seal victory with Sagan unable to respond in the closing metres.
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Rowe held on for fourth place while fifth went to Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), who had been in the first break of the day. Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal ) led the peloton home just nine seconds later. There was disappointment for Etixx-QuickStep who saw Tony Martin crash and no riders finish inside the top ten.
However the day belonged to Van Avermaet, who laid down the perfect marker ahead of the spring Monuments. The Belgian finished second in this race two years ago and has perennially finished on the podium in several major spring races without claiming a win.
“I’m never really winning that much and it’s the first race in Belgium so far, so I’m pretty happy with this victory. If I could choose one, I would have picked, definitely, this one,” he said.
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