Brammeier and his team rode very well throughout a difficult three days
Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and the An Post-Sean Kelly team enjoyed a successful weekend at the Three Days of West Flanders in Belgium.
An Post’s Gediminas Bagdonas took an excellent seventh on the final GC.
He was 17th in the 7km prologue TT last Friday and followed that up by finishing in the greatly diminished bunches on Saturday’s and Sunday’s 180+km stages, as many riders got spat out during wet, breezy and fast racing.
There were no Irish riders on the An Post-Sean Kelly team in the race. Its highest stage placing was with Niko Eeckhout who was fourth in the bunch sprint on the final day.
Brammeier’s team continued its very strong start to the season, winning the prologue TT last Friday with 21-year-old Michal Kwiatkowski. They then followed that up with a win from a bunch sprint on Saturday’s road stage by Francesco Chicchi.
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When race leader Kwiatkowski crashed and was forced to abandon on the final stage on Sunday, the team had Julien Vermote to call on. The Belgian was second to his team mate in the prologue and held that position through to the start of the third stage.
When Kwiatkowski crashed and was forced out, all Vermote had to do was finish in the bunch to claim the final GC win, which he did.
Brammeier rode very strongly during the three days and when Vermote nearly got left behind in the crash that claimed Kwiatkowski, it was Brammeier who took control and kept his team mate in contention.
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The team’s ambitions for stage and GC wins saw Brammeier worked hard and made him look like a very seasoned and experienced old hand at this level, despite being only in the first weeks of his second season in the top flight.
See photos below of Brammeier and the An Posts in action in Belgium at the weekend.
All photos below courtesy [email protected]
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