Van Keirsbulck overcomes rain and mud to win Le Samyn

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Guillaume Van Keirsbulck le samyn 2017

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) won another rainy edition of Le Samyn after he outsprinted Alex Kirsch (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect) in a two-up sprint. Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors) completed the podium in third place.

“It was a very hard race, and I survived,” said van Keirsbulck after the 202.2km race. “I’m very happy.”

A group of five found itself ahead of the pack during the first half of the race but was never given more than three minutes. The peloton reeled in the escapees at 80 kilometers from the line, allowing for new attacks to be attempted.

A lead group of seven riders went into the final 25-kilometer lap around Dour with just 16 seconds’ lead on the peloton, which was being led by Cofidis. Four of the seven were captured with about 22km to go, while Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty – Groupe Gobert), and Alex Kirsch (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect) carried on off the front.

With a little less than 12 kilometers remaining, van Keirsbulck attacked on a short cobbled climb, dropping Van der Sande. Although a chase group kept the pressure on for the two leaders, they kept their concentration and arrived to the finish line in Dour together. Kirsch initiated the sprint but saw Van Keirsbulck surpass him in the final meters.

Le Samyn 2017 results:

1Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

5:41:54

2Alex Kirsch (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect)

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3Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors)

+11”

4Florian Senechal (Cofidis)

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5Frederik Backaert (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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6Jesper Asselman (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij)

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7Frederik Frison (Lotto Soudal)

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8Jos Van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo)

+13”

9Bert Van Lerberghe (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise)

+35”

10Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors)

+52”

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