55 km solo ride of Philippe Gilbert (QuickStep-Floors) and the memorable crash of his strongest chasers.
The 101st Ronde van Vlaanderen was held on the 2nd April 2017, it was 260,8 km long, started in Antwerp and ended in Oudenaarde.
It was the last Ronde for Tom Boonen (QuickStep- Floors), and everybody expected, that the blue-white Belgian team will work for his victory. Unfortunately, he had several mechanical problems inside the final 50 km and finished only 37th. Nevertheless, he was one of the most active riders of the race with several memorable moments, like his quick look exchange with Gilbert at the foot of the Muur-Kappelmuur.
The first breakaway group established quite early and included: Mark McNally (Wanty-Gobert), Oliviero Troia (UAE Emirates), Julien Duval (AG2R La Mondiale), Stef Van Zummeren (Veranda’s Willems Crelan), Michael Goolaerts (Veranda’s Willems Crelan), Julien Morice (Direct Energie), Edward Planckaert (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), André Looij (Roompot). The biggest gap between them and the main bunch was 12 minutes.
The real race of the favourites started on the Muur-Kappelmuur, as a 14-man group formed after passing the famous chapel on the top of the hill. Besides three QuickStep-Floors riders (Gilbert, Boonen and Matteo Trentin) also Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac), Macej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe), Arnaud Démare (FDJ), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), Luke Rowe and Gianni Moscon (Team Sky), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Bryan Coquard, Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Sacha Modolo (UAE Emirates) were in this group.
But some of the favourites, like Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) or Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) missed it. Lotto-Soudal chased the escapees the hardest.
The original breakaway was caught with 67 km to go. The gap between the big group of 22 riders and the main bunch was around 1 minute.
The most important moment of the race was when the leading group reached the Oude Kwaremond, and Gilbert attacked. There was still 55 km to go, probably only the hardcore Gilbert-fans believed in his victory at that point. But he was able to hold a cca. one minute gap till almost the end of the race, it dropped only in the last kilometres. 2nd placed Greg van Avermaet crossed the finish line 29 sec behind him.
While Gilbert rode his solo at the front, an eventful race developed behind him. First Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) and Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac) formed a duo for chasing the Belgian classic specialist. Sep Vanmarcke had a nasty crash, also Rowe and Boonen were involved a bit (probably that caused later Boonen’s mechanical problems on the Taienberg, on his favourite ascent).
On the Patenberg, Sagan and Van Avermaet bridged across the Boonen-group. A seven-man group, including Sagan, Trentin, Van Avermaet, Felline, Van Baarle, Oliver Naesen (Ag2R) and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) established after the Taienberg, they rode together till the dramatic moment, when Sagan, Van Avermaet and Naesen went down on Oude Kwarenmont with 16 km to go. All three riders could continue to race, Van Avermaet a bit sooner than the other two. No wonder, that the Olympic Champion chased his countryman so furiously, the biggest goal of his career is the Ronde, yet his best results are two 2nd places (2014 and 2017). Only van Baarle and Niki Terpstra (QuickStep-Floors) joined him in this final chase, but Gilbert was invincible on this Sunday.
Top10 of the race:
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 6:23:45
2 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:29
3 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
4 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
5 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:53
6 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Team UAE Emirates
7 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
8 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina
9 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie
10 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida