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Brussels - Brussels, 190.5 km

Could a race finish be any closer? Caleb Ewan (left) gets his tenth win of the season. Photo: Photonews

Weather at the start/finish city of Brussels at 2:20 PM, local time: 15C (59F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the north-northwest at 13 km/hr (8 mph). 60% chance of rain during the afternoon.

The race: Here's the report from winner Caleb Ewan's Lotto-Soudal team.

In his first Brussels Cycling Classic participation, Caleb Ewan immediately hit the jackpot! The quick Australian beat the German Ackermann and the Belgian Philipsen with an ultimate jump in a nail-biting sprint in Brussels. That way, Ewan sprinted to his tenth victory in Lotto Soudal colours.

Early in the race, seven riders went on the attack but the sprint teams immediately took control. Some counter-attackers joined the front group at around 45 kilometres from the line. In a soaking-wet finale of the Brussels Cycling Classic, the peloton split to pieces on some technical sections and at ten kilometres from the line, the escapees were caught. An attentive Caleb Ewan made the cut and also teammate Nikolas Maes - who acted as the perfect guide during the finale - was part of the heavily reduced bunch. It was Pascal Ackermann who started the royal sprint early and seemed to be heading for his second consecutive win. Caleb Ewan didn’t agree with that and like a jack-in-the-box and with an ultimate jump to the line, the Lotto Soudal rider sprinted to his tenth victory of the season!”

Caleb Ewan: “I am very happy with the victory during my first participation in this race. To be honest, I didn’t feel great today and I was struggling on the climbs. But once the adrenaline kicked in, it went better. It was a pretty stressful day and also the rain and the narrow roads made it quite a difficult race. There was also a lot of stress in the bunch. So, all those things made the race that - I think, usually would be easier - a lot harder. Luckily, the team did a great job to keep me at the front during the difficult moments.”

​​​​“In the end, especially with the slight uphill finish and the headwind, it really was a grind to the finish line. But I think I just timed my sprint really well. I don’t know if I was the strongest sprinter today but I think I timed it the best and luckily, I still had that little extra in the legs to take the win.”

Complete results:

190.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.037 km/hr

174 starters, 19 abandons, 155 classified finishers

1	EWAN Caleb	Lotto-Soudal	4hr 25min 35sec
2	ACKERMANN Pascal	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
3	PHILIPSEN Jasper	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
4	BALLERINI Davide	Astana	s.t.
5	STUYVEN Jasper	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
6	DÉMARE Arnaud	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
7	KRISTOFF Alexander	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
8	CAPIOT Amaury	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
9	PLANCKAERT Baptiste	Wallonie-Bruxelles	s.t.
10	GROVES Kaden	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
11	COQUARD Bryan	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	s.t.
12	ŠIŠKEVIČIUS Evaldas	Delko-Marseille Provence	s.t.
13	SÉNÉCHAL Florian	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
14	NAESEN Oliver	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
15	DEMPSTER Zak	Israel Cycling Academy	s.t.
16	DUVAL Julien	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
17	LAPORTE Christophe	Cofidis	s.t.
18	GREIPEL André	Arkea-Samsic	@ 4sec
19	PEDERSEN Mads	Trek-Segafredo	0:06
20	STEIMLE Jannik	Deceuninck-Quick Step	0:07
21	LAMPAERT Yves	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
22	TURGIS Anthony	Total Direct Energie	0:09
23	RIESEBEEK Oscar	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
24	LEMOINE Cyril	Cofidis	s.t.
25	IMPEY Daryl	Mitchelton-Scott	0:12
26	VELASCO Simone	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	0:14
27	SELIG Rüdiger	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
28	MAES Nikolas	Lotto-Soudal	0:21
29	LE GAC Olivier	Groupama-FDJ	0:26
30	FERRARI Roberto	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
31	JUUL-JENSEN Christopher	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
32	SINKELDAM Ramon	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
33	MERLIER Tim	Corendon-Circus	0:30
34	ALLEGAERT Piet	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	0:40
35	BONNAMOUR Franck	Arkea-Samsic	s.t.
36	ALBASINI Michael	Mitchelton-Scott	0:47
37	SCHWARZMANN Michael	BORA-hansgrohe	1:00
38	SCHILLINGER Andreas	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
39	GROSU Eduard Michael	Delko-Marseille Provence	1:31
40	BOIVIN Guillaume	Israel Cycling Academy	s.t.
41	MARENGO Umberto	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	s.t.
42	PERON Andrea	Novo Nordisk	s.t.
43	GABBURO Davide	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	s.t.
44	PLANET Charles	Novo Nordisk	s.t.
45	KURIANOV Stepan	Gazprom-RusVelo	s.t.
46	DE VREESE Laurens	Astana	s.t.
47	PEYSKENS Dimitri	Wallonie-Bruxelles	s.t.
48	VISCONTI Giovanni	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	s.t.
49	WIRTGEN Tom	Wallonie-Bruxelles	s.t.
50	DE BACKER Bert	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	s.t.
51	NABERMAN Tim	Development Team Sunweb	s.t.
52	MORICE Julien	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	s.t.
53	WOUTERS Enzo	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
54	SALMON Martin	Development Team Sunweb	s.t.
55	RÄIM Mihkel	Israel Cycling Academy	s.t.
56	VAN EMPEL Etienne	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	s.t.
57	CARDIS Romain	Total Direct Energie	s.t.
58	BAUGNIES Jérôme	Wanty-Gobert	s.t.
59	SOUPE Geoffrey	Cofidis	s.t.
60	CIMA Imerio	Nippo-Vini Fantini	s.t.
61	HEPBURN Michael	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
62	TRARIEUX Julien	Delko-Marseille Provence	s.t.
63	LAENGEN Vegard	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
64	LEYSEN Senne	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
65	VAN POPPEL Boy	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
66	WELTEN Bram	Arkea-Samsic	s.t.
67	WAEYTENS Zico	Cofidis	s.t.
68	LIVYNS Arjen	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
69	RUSSO Clément	Arkea-Samsic	s.t.
70	JULLIEN Anthony	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
71	BOHLI Tom	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
72	EINHORN Itamar	Israel Cycling Academy	s.t.
73	LAMMERTINK Maurits	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
74	THIJSSEN Gerben	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
75	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	Cofidis	s.t.
76	MOSCHETTI Matteo	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
77	RICKAERT Jonas	Corendon-Circus	s.t.
78	DEWULF Stan	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
79	CLE Brent	Corendon-Circus	s.t.
80	STALLAERT Joeri	Corendon-Circus	s.t.
81	JARRIER Benoît	Arkea-Samsic	s.t.
82	SAGAN Juraj	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
83	REZA Kévin	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	s.t.
84	GAUTIER Cyril	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	s.t.
85	CORT Magnus	Astana	s.t.
86	SPENGLER Lukas	Wallonie-Bruxelles	s.t.
87	PACIONI Luca	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	s.t.
88	DE GENDT Aimé	Wanty-Gobert	s.t.
89	BOHÓRQUEZ Hernando	Astana	s.t.
90	BONNET William	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
91	GUARNIERI Jacopo	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
92	VANENDERT Jelle	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
93	WARLOP Jordi	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
94	CIMA Damiano	Nippo-Vini Fantini	s.t.
95	CANOLA Marco	Nippo-Vini Fantini	s.t.
96	REINDERS Elmar	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
97	TERPSTRA Niki	Total Direct Energie	s.t.
98	NAESEN Lawrence	Lotto-Soudal	1:44
99	CLAEYS Dimitri	Cofidis	1:51
100	CARISEY Clément	Israel Cycling Academy	s.t.
101	MANZIN Lorrenzo	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	s.t.
102	TUREK Daniel	Israel Cycling Academy	2:24
103	QUARTERMAN Charlie	Trek-Segafredo	3:15
104	SINSCHEK Nils	Development Team Sunweb	s.t.
105	KULIKOVSKIY Alexandr	Gazprom-RusVelo	s.t.
106	ISTA Kevyn	Wallonie-Bruxelles	s.t.
107	DE WINTER Ludwig	Wanty-Gobert	s.t.
108	MAAS Edo	Development Team Sunweb	s.t.
109	GUERIN Alexis	Delko-Marseille Provence	s.t.
110	JONES Brenton	Delko-Marseille Provence	s.t.
111	VAN MELSEN Kevin	Wanty-Gobert	s.t.
112	KUSZTOR Péter	Novo Nordisk	s.t.
113	DUIJN Huub	Roompot-Charles	s.t.
114	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	Astana	s.t.
115	VAN GOMPEL Mathias	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
116	GATTO Oscar	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
117	VIVIANI Attilio	Cofidis	s.t.
118	FRAME Alex	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
119	GREGAARD Jonas	Astana	s.t.
120	PICHOT Alexandre	Total Direct Energie	s.t.
121	BENOIST Antoine	Corendon-Circus	s.t.
122	DELETTRE Alexandre	Delko-Marseille Provence	s.t.
123	KEISSE Iljo	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
124	RAGGIO Luca	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia	s.t.
125	SCOTSON Callum	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
126	DENZ Nico	Ag2r La Mondiale	3:31
127	DUCHESNE Antoine	Groupama-FDJ	3:34
128	LOZANO David	Novo Nordisk	s.t.
129	DALLA VALLE Nicolas	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
130	RIOU Alan	Arkea-Samsic	s.t.
131	HÄNNINEN Jaakko	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
132	VAN DER POEL David	Corendon-Circus	s.t.
133	STALNOV Nikita	Astana	3:53
134	SANTAROMITA Ivan	Nippo-Vini Fantini	4:06
135	BODNAR Maciej	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
136	DEBEAUMARCHÉ Nicolas	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
137	GUICHARD Mickaël	Delko-Marseille Provence	s.t.
138	WACKER Ludvig Anton	Development Team Sunweb	s.t.
139	OSORIO Alejandro	Nippo-Vini Fantini	s.t.
140	PETIT Adrien	Total Direct Energie	s.t.
141	EARLE Nathan	Israel Cycling Academy	s.t.
142	VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter	Wanty-Gobert	s.t.
143	BOEV Igor	Gazprom-RusVelo	s.t.
144	DEVENYNS Dries	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
145	HODEG Álvaro José	Deceuninck-Quick Step	4:28
146	KATERBERG Ben	Development Team Sunweb	s.t.
147	ROBEET Ludovic	Wallonie-Bruxelles	4:53
148	BEERS Matthew	UAE-Team Emirates	6:14
149	PEÁK Barnabás	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
150	GRELLIER Fabien	Total Direct Energie	s.t.
151	ACOSTA Ruben Dario	Nippo-Vini Fantini	6:20
152	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	Groupama-FDJ	6:30
153	BOECKMANS Kris	Vital Concept-B&B Hotels	8:33
154	BRAND Sam	Novo Nordisk	8:38
155	KAMSTRA Brian	Novo Nordisk	s.t.

Course map: