Alvaro Hodeg sprinted to his first pro win at Handzame Classic, giving Quick-Step Floors its 15th victory of the season.
Not even the numerous cobbled sectors or a crash of Florian Sénéchal with seven kilometers to go could derail Quick-Step Floors’ excellent sprint train, who delivered Hodeg in an ideal position inside the last 200 meters of the race, from where the 21-year-old blasted past Kristoffer Halvorson (Team Sky) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe), dashing to victory on Friday afternoon, to become the third Colombian winner of a Belgian semi-classic, after Leonardo Duque and teammate Fernando Gaviria.
“It’s difficult to tell you how I’m feeling after this win. It means the world to take my maiden pro victory with Quick-Step Floors, the team I have always dreamt of racing for. I always try to do my best and today it wasn’t any different”, said Hodeg at the press conference.
“The plan from the beginning of the race was to do the sprint for me and I’m grateful to the boys for their support, they were fantastic. I am super happy to get this success and can tell you I’ll continue to work hard in order to repay the team for their confidence.”
https://youtu.be/fNISgz3HLmc?t=2837
Handzame Classic 2018 results:
| 1 | Álvaro José Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) | 4:34:35 |
| 2 | Kristoffer Halvorsen (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 3 | Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 4 | Matteo Pellucchi (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 5 | Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue Sport) | ,, |
| 6 | Kenny Dehaes (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) | ,, |
| 7 | Rui Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon) | ,, |
| 8 | Tanguy Turgis (Vital Concept Club) | ,, |
| 9 | Moreno Hofland (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 10 | Jonas Koch (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | ,, |
