Yves Lampaert powered to victory in the final classic of the season on Wednesday, taking the win at Driedaage Brugge-De Panne.
As expected, the wind was a major factor on Wednesday, ripping the bunch to pieces, three groups forming just 12 kilometers into the race. When the first two groups made contact, Deceuninck-Quick-Step and Alpecin-Fenix had the numbers.
Inside 15 kilometers to go, ten men were still in the lead. Lampaert was the first to test the waters, but was quickly brought back, paving the way for a move of Tim Declercq. “El Tractor” put some daylight between him and the chasers before being reeled in, but the attacks kept on coming and Lampaert gave it another dig, this time pulling clear and eking out a small advantage which he extended to a comfortable 25 seconds with three kilometers to go.
Lampaert continued to push on into the headwind, sensing his first win of the year was getting closer with each meter ticked off. It was only around 300 meters from the finish that the former Belgian Champion sat up and celebrated his victory.
