With about 72km left to ride in the 250.3km race from Ypres to Wevelgem, the 29-year-old Dane took off after the peloton had come together following a serious split caused by the strong headwinds that are always a feature of this race. He was briefly accompanied by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Visma–Lease a Bike), two very fast sprinters who would have been hard to beat if they’d stayed with him to the finish. But Philipsen had a puncture, and Kooij crashed, injuring his shoulder, and had to abandon. His team said on its website that the 23-year-old Dutchman had broken his collarbone.
Accompanied only by Arjen Livyns (Lotto), Pedersen raced to catch up with a nine-rider breakaway consisting of Victor Campenaerts (Visma–Lease a Bike), Sam Maignan (Cofidis), Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco-AlUla), Marco Haller (Tudor Pro), Emīls Liepiņš (Q36.5), Max Walker (EF Education–EasyPost), Samuel Leroux (Total Energies), Alexys Brunel (Total Energies), and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates–XRG). The pair caught up, and Pedersen drove the pace until the riders hit the iconic Kemmelberg (0.5km @ 10.4% with slopes of up to 21%).
Halfway to the top of the cobbled climb, the 29-year-old Dane made his decisive break, pursued by Campenaerts, Haller, and Livyns. With 48km left to ride, he had a lead of 28 seconds over the three pursuers and 1:03 over the peloton, where teams and riders seemed unsure about how to react. All except Lidl-Trek. It had brought a very strong contingent, which included the superior sprinter Jonathan Milan […]
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