2021 Tour de l'Eurométropole (HC), Belgium
Formerly Circuit Franco-Belge
80th edition: Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Tour de l'Eurométropole podium history | 2019 edition (race not run in 2020)
La Louvière - Tournai, 177.6 kilometers
Fabio Jakobsen wins in Tournai. Photo: Luc Claessen/Getty Images
Weather at the finish city of Tournai at 2:05 PM, local time: 16C (61F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the west at 26 km/hr (16 mph). There is a 20% chance of rain.
The race: Here's the report from winner Fabio Jakobsen's Deceuninck-Quick Step team.
Deceuninck-Quick Step racked up win number 63 this season, after Fabio Jakobsen capped off his teammates’ excellent job at the end of an action-packed Eurométropole Tour, Wednesday afternoon. For the 25-year-old, who returned in the pack earlier this year in Turkey, it was the seventh victory of 2021, and his second since conquering the points classification at the Vuelta a España.
Animated in the first part by a seven-man break, the race was back together with more than 50 kilometers to go, prompting new attacks on the local circuit as soon as the wind picked up. A large group snapped the elastic on the circuit’s sole climb and put around 30 seconds between them and the chasers. Deceuninck – Quick-Step had Dries Devenyns and Stan Van Tricht there, who tracked the moves, while behind the rest of the team put in a huge effort to bring Fabio Jakobsen back to the front.
Methodically, the Wolfpack reduced the advantage of the attackers and made the catch with four kilometers to go, but continued to remain in control as the flamme rouge loomed on the horizon. Bert Van Lerberghe – who turned 29 Wednesday – was once again the last man in Jakobsen’s lead-out train, and after dropping him off in a perfect position, the Dutchman kicked out and came around his opponents on the right side of the road, taking a comfortable victory in Tournai.
“I enjoyed being here with this strong team and taking another victory. The guys showed why we are the Wolfpack, they supported me and I want to thank them for their incredible work, especially as many teams tried to put pressure on us. I am happy that I finished it off and brought a win to the team on Bert’s birthday, who did a perfect job today in the last kilometers. I have one more race next week and I look forward to it, as I want to get a good result before going on holiday”, said Fabio.
Complete Results:
177.6 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.876 km/hr
| 1 | JAKOBSEN Fabio | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 4hr 8min 32sec |
| 2 | MEEUS Jordi | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 3 | PEDERSEN Mads | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 4 | VAN POPPEL Danny | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 5 | HOFSTETTER Hugo | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 6 | BOUHANNI Nacer | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 7 | VAN ROOY Kenneth | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 8 | MOZZATO Luca | B&B Hotels | s.t. |
| 9 | VAN RENSBURG Reinardt | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 10 | LEROUX Samuel | Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Métropole | s.t. |
| 11 | DE BONDT Dries | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 12 | ALLEGAERT Piet | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 13 | ROBEET Ludovic | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 14 | CAPIOT Amaury | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 15 | VAN DER SANDE Tosh | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 16 | MEURISSE Xandro | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 17 | STRAKHOV Dmitry | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 18 | BYSTROM Sven Erik | UAE-Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 19 | VANMARCKE Sep | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 20 | BIERMANS Jenthe | Israel Start-Up Nation | @ 3sec |
| 21 | GOGL Michael | Qhubeka-NextHash | 0:05 |
| 22 | ROWE Luke | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 23 | KWIATKOWSKI Michal | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 24 | THEUNS Edward | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 25 | VAN LERBERGHE Bert | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 26 | CLARKE Simon | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 27 | SCHACHMANN Maximilian | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 28 | VALGREN Michael | EF Education-Nippo | 0:07 |
| 29 | VAN TRICHT Stan | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 30 | VERMEERSCH Florian | Lotto Soudal | 0:10 |
| 31 | CLAEYS Dimitri | Qhubeka-NextHash | 0:12 |
| 32 | DE GENDT Aime | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | 0:14 |
| 33 | PLANCKAERT Baptiste | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 34 | BLIKRA Erlend | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 35 | BARBIER Rudy | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 36 | REX Laurenz | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 37 | CANOLA Marco | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 38 | GAVIRIA Fernando | UAE-Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 39 | PETIT Adrien | Team TotalEnergies | s.t. |
| 40 | BONIFAZIO Niccolo | Team TotalEnergies | s.t. |
| 41 | GATE Aaron | Black Spoke | s.t. |
| 42 | DVERSNES Fredrik | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 43 | VIVIANI Elia | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 44 | GOEMAN Andreas | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 45 | QUARTERMAN Charlie | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 46 | VERMEULEN Emiel | Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Métropole | s.t. |
| 47 | COTE Pier-Andre | Rally Cycling | s.t. |
| 48 | JOYCE Colin | Rally Cycling | s.t. |
| 49 | PAQUOT Tom | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 50 | SCOTSON Miles | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 51 | RIKUNOV Petr | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 52 | DECLERCQ Benjamin | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 53 | MARIT Arne | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 54 | KRISTOFF Alexander | UAE-Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 55 | NOPPE Christophe | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 56 | PASQUALON Andrea | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 57 | STEWART Campbell | Black Spoke | s.t. |
| 58 | LIENHARD Fabian | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 59 | WELTEN Bram | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 60 | RENARD Alexis | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 61 | LEMOINE Cyril | B&B Hotels | s.t. |
| 62 | BISSEGGER Stefan | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 63 | BASSO Leonardo | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 64 | TEUGELS Lennert | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 65 | LAENGEN Vegard | UAE-Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 66 | LE GAC Olivier | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 67 | GILBERT Philippe | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 68 | DOULL Owain | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 69 | LIVYNS Arjen | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 70 | GOLAS Michal | INEOS Grenadiers | s.t. |
| 71 | MERTZ Remy | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 72 | JANSSENS Jimmy | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 73 | VAN ASBROECK Tom | Israel Start-Up Nation | 0:23 |
| 74 | PLANCKAERT Edward | Alpecin-Fenix | 0:25 |
| 75 | DE TIER Floris | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 76 | STEIMLE Jannik | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 0:28 |
| 77 | DEVENYNS Dries | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 0:29 |
| 78 | HULGAARD Morten | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 79 | SAUGSTAD Lars | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 80 | VAN DER HOORN Taco | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 81 | MCLAY Daniel | Arkéa-Samsic | 0:36 |
| 82 | DRUCKER Jempy | Cofidis | 0:44 |
| 83 | VERGAERDE Otto | Alpecin-Fenix | 0:45 |
| 84 | GRELLIER Fabien | Team TotalEnergies | 0:59 |
| 85 | WALSCHEID Max | Qhubeka-NextHash | 1:16 |
| 86 | TOUMIRE Hugo | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 87 | SINKELDAM Ramon | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 88 | DEBUSSCHERE Jens | B&B Hotels | s.t. |
| 89 | SAJNOK Szymon | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 90 | DE BACKER Bert | B&B Hotels | s.t. |
| 91 | LECROQ Jeremy | B&B Hotels | s.t. |
| 92 | MARCHAND Gianni | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 93 | D'HEYGERE Gil | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 94 | CASTRIQUE Jonas | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 95 | OLIVEIRA Rui | UAE-Team Emirates | s.t. |
| 96 | RELAES Jacob | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 97 | BOEV Igor | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 98 | RUSSO Clement | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 99 | CHERNETSKI Sergei | Gazprom-RusVelo | s.t. |
| 100 | GRIGNARD Sebastien | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 101 | VAN POPPEL Boy | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 102 | VLIEGEN Loïc | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 103 | RUTSCH Jonas | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 104 | VANHOOF Ward | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 105 | SCULLY Tom | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 106 | VAN GENECHTEN Jonas | B&B Hotels | 2:06 |
| 107 | VAN DEN BERG Julius | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 108 | MALECKI Kamil | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 109 | TABELLION Valentin | Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Métropole | s.t. |
| 110 | PICOUX Maximilien | Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Métropole | s.t. |
| 111 | ZUKOWSKY Nickolas | Rally Cycling | s.t. |
| 112 | SPRENGERS Thomas | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 113 | SEXTON Tom | Black Spoke | s.t. |
| 114 | BROWN Connor | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 115 | FRISON Frederik | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 116 | LUDVIGSSON Tobias | Groupama-FDJ | 4:04 |
| 117 | CARVALHO Andre | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 118 | WILLEMS Thimo | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 119 | LIEPINS Emīls | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 120 | HOOLE Daan | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 121 | VAN POUCKE Aaron | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 122 | CARPENTER Robin | Rally Cycling | s.t. |
| 123 | BASSETT Stephen | Rally Cycling | s.t. |
| 124 | LANGEVELD Sebastian | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 125 | KIRSCH Alex | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 126 | KULSET Kristian | Uno-X | 4:47 |
| 127 | VALLEE Boris | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 128 | DOCKER Mitchell | EF Education-Nippo | 5:00 |
| 129 | JAUREGUI Quentin | B&B Hotels | s.t. |
| 130 | DE VOS Adam | Rally Cycling | s.t. |
| 131 | STEELS Stijn | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 132 | DAVY Clement | Groupama-FDJ | s.t. |
| 133 | JOHANSEN Julius | Uno-X | s.t. |