Nokere Koerse Men: Jasper Philipsen closes breakaway attempt in final metres for first victory of the season

Nokere Koerse hardly ever ends with a successful breakaway – the last time was in 2021 when Ludovic Robeet won – but that never stops riders from trying. After an active first 20km, four riders were allowed to go clear for what would eventually be a futile effort to steal the victory.

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Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto-Intermarché), Sean Christian (Modern Adventure), Jelle Harteel and Jonah Killy (Tarteletto-Isorex) enjoyed the mild temperatures and sunshine as they gained nearly four minutes on the bunch in the first half of the lumpy 186.4km race from Deinze to Nokere, but that began to fall rapidly as the race entered the large closing circuit.

Sean Christian of Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, Jelle Harteel of Tarteletto-Isorex, Lionel Taminiaux of Lotto Intermarché and Jonah Killy of Tarteletto-Isorex compete in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)

Although there was a brief acceleration with 75km to go that slashed the breakaway’s advantage to 1:27, the peloton came through the finish line for the second time shortly after, spread wide across the road in a general slowdown that gave the escapees another 30 seconds.

The quartet had just under two minutes in hand with 46.5km to go when a multi-rider crash in the peloton brought down sprinter Pascal Ackermann (Jayco AlUla) and several other riders just as the chase began to kick off in earnest.

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XDS-Astana and Soudal-QuickStep took charge as the penultimate ascent of the Lange Ast climb approached, and with 40km to go, the surge halved the breakaway’s gap to 1:05.

There was another crash at the back of the peloton as they headed up the Nokereberg for the second-to-last time, taking down Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex) and Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), as the pace heated up.

The breakaway was really struggling to hold on as a turn of pace from Soudal-QuickStep, Lidl-Trek and UAE Team Emirates-XRG brought their lead down to 30 seconds with 34km to go. Even though the effort was on again, off again, the breakaway’s spirit seemed broken as the team cars flew by.

Killy was the last man standing, putting in a surge with 30km to go that the peloton was more than happy to let go for a while to discourage further aggression.

The peloton starts another circuit (Image credit: Getty Images)

After opening up a 30-second lead, Killy was back in the fold, finally, with 21km to go, and the race was on, but Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was at the team car getting a shoe change.

Tudor lit up the Lange Ast for the final time, but were reeled in and countered by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who were then attacked by Lidl-Trek’s Kristian Egholm, joined by Cerial Desal (Soudal-QuickStep), Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Matevz Govekar (Bahrain Victorious) and Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Lotto-Intermarché). It was, however, a short-lived move, and with 16km to go, the peloton was intact.

Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) capitalised on a series of twists and turns leading into the Doorn cobbles with 14km to go, launching an attack that opened up an impressive gap. In a strong tailwind, his lead approached 30 seconds with 7km to go, marking another key race transition.

Segaert encountered the headwind coming into the final 3km but still had 20 seconds as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe called Vermeersch back from the pointy end of the peloton. It wasn’t until just outside the red kite that Soudal-QuickStep began pitching in, leaving a nail-biting final minute of racing.

Segaert still had a solid lead as he started up the final climb, but you could almost see his heart sink as Philipsen blasted past with just metres to go.