The hits keep coming for Ottawa’s Carter Deveer. He’s been having a great spring with his new team, Cannibal-Victorious, the feeder team for WorldTour squad Bahrain-Victorius. The past few days he’s been riding the 3-day stage race, the Ster van Zuid-Limburg
Vic De Smet took the overall lead heading into the final stage of the 47th edition after a razor-thin 6.8km time trial in St.-Truiden, edging Lars Franken by less than a second and leader Karl Herzog by seven.
De Smet started Monday’s 120km finale with a 6-second advantage over Herzog and 14 over teammate Simon Defrance, giving the junior team of Soudal-Quick Step three riders in contention.
Final stage
On Stage 3a from Wellen to Wellen (93.7km), Deveer finished a close second and moved up to third overall. “After the first two stages, the GC was getting out of reach for the team, so the plan was to get in the breakaway and try for yellow,” Deveer said. “I followed a move around halfway and counterattacked when it slowed. I was solo for about 10 minutes before three riders bridged to me. We had over a minute at one point, and my teammates did a great job disrupting the chase. In the end, I was a close second in the sprint and nearly missed yellow by three seconds, with the bunch eight seconds behind us.”
In the TT where he finished 47th, dropped him out of the top-10.
However, he’s already taken his first win of the year. The 16-year-old rider won the Weg Motion Drives Classic p/b Atkom Koerst in Belgium on March 17. The multiple national champ is enjoying the new team. “It’s a really good mix between having fun in the team house and being serious at the races,” he said. “All the guys are strong, and we keep each other motivated.”
The final stage on Monday from Riemst to Mopertingen promises another fierce battle among the top juniors as De Smet defends his lead. Deveer finsihed a solid 22nd overall.