Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) took his first win of 2017 Sunday at the Dwars Door West-Vlaanderen on Sunday, making all the right moves throughout the stage before winning a two-up sprint with BMC Racing's Silvan Dillier.
Wind and rain quickly split the 1.1 race into four echelons, with a front group of 21 riders eventually emerging as the initial breakaway. The leaders had a minute advantage heading onto the first cobbled section with 90km to go, and from there they would continue to pour on the power.
Van Emden and Dillier eventually made the split again when attacks in the breakaway started to shake it up and a group of six peeled away to form the new lead. That group swelled to nine as the peloton neared, providing the impetus for Van Emden to attack again and set off in tandem with Dillier. The duo worked well together and built the winning margin of 35 seconds with a single 13km lap to go.
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"I did not want the group to come back, so I took off," Van Emden said. "I had Dillier on my wheel, and we worked well together until just before the finish. Then I started to play the game. Last Wednesday, I went for the win in Le Samyn but had to accept defeat in the sprint. I thought, 'This isn't going to happen here.'"
The duo dug deep to hold off the chase, setting up the hard-fought two-up sprint that Van Emden won. The more-experienced Dutchman forced Dillier to lead out the sprint, coming around him before the line.
"I did not want to head into the sprint because my first kick is not that fast, but when I stood on the pedals to sprint, I felt strength in my legs and overtook the normally faster Dillier," Van Emden said. "It's always nice to win this way. It helps if you've already ridden some finals as I did last Wednesday in Le Samyn. You learn from it. I am now nine years professional and it's my third win in a classic. All the other victories, I achieved in time trials."
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