Riding a teammate's bike after a late puncture in the Ronde van Limburg could not stop Milan Fretin from claiming the third victory of his season on Wednesday - and on home soil to boot.
In the tough, cobbled midweek Classic in east Belgium, the Cofidis racer clinched a chaotic small bunch sprint win in front of a crowd of delighted relatives and friends.
A powerful late charge on the slightly rising finish in Tongeren by Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck) could not quite bring him back on terms with Fretin, who had launched his sprint early. Milan Menten (Lotto) placed third.
For Fretin, a victory on his home training roads was always going to be specially memorable, and to do so riding on teammate Stanisław Aniolkowski's bike - even more so.
"We had the bike change, because I had a flat tyre at a bad moment, but luckily Stan was with me," Fretin recounted.
"Normally we sprint with two guys, but he's not recovered from Paris-Roubaix, I think and he helped me a lot. I was feeling super strong today, it's my home race so I was super- motivated, and I'm super happy to win."
Fretin, 24, will now head to the Giro d'Italia, his first ever Grand Tour, buoyed by his best spring to date.
"It's super-important to win, I kept on getting fourth places so I was always very motivated to get the podium here. And the win is even better."
A fast, fraught race saw a shattered front bunch of some 40 riders reach the last 20 kilometres all together, with Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) making the first concerted late effort to go clear.
Del Grosso's move sparked a response from Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Guillermo Thomas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Del Grosso's teammate Jonas Rickaert and Gianni Marchand (Tartelleto Isolex) across the last assault of the final cobbled sector of the day, the Op de Kriezel. After a ferocious pursuit by Lidl-Trek and Cofidis, four of the five late movers were reeled in just six kilometres from the line, with Marchand getting sucked in shortly afterwards.
Lotto's star sprinter Elia Viviani was well placed as the race roared into Tongeren, only for Q36.5 to move fellow Italian Matteo Moschetti ahead of the Olympic champion, while Mentin was third in line, with no teammate to back him up at all. Meanwhile a series of bends and bike paths with only a few partial barriers to keep the riders on the road saw some top riders behind go off course and others unexpectedly blocked in.
Bursting out of the line in what was proving to be a very messy bunch sprint, Mentin quickly passed Moschetti and Lotto's Jasper De Buyst. The Belgian had already taken one slightly uphill sprint earlier this year in stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve, and he was more than capable of judging his last-ditch effort on a very similar rising finale on home roads in Belgium, keeping Dehairs at bay with just enough momentum to ensure he remained ahead all the way to the line.
Results
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