Conor Dunne put in a monster attack in Belgium; powering away off the front in the near-200km 1.HC-ranked race. He is always aggressive but was super strong today (Photo: Fabienne van Heste)

Conor Dunne last man standing in four-hour Belgian attack

A man never shy of shooting off the front of a hard race, Conor Dunne enjoyed a very strong ride in Belgian semi classic Nokere-Koerse today, Wednesday.

The Aqua Blue Sport man was among an eight-man group that broke away in the 191km race.

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And while he was eventually reeled in, he was the last of the escapees to be recaptured.

Compatriot and team mate Matt Brammeier put his weight behind Andy Fenn as the event neared a close.

And it was Fenn who proved the team's best finisher, taking a very tidy fifth. The race was won by Fabio Jakobsen from Holland.

The 21-year-old QuickStep rider powered up the cobbled drag to the finish to win from a 30-man group.

.@WoutvanAert kleurt mee de finale, maar de Nederlander @FabioJakobsen vliegt het best de Nokereberg op. ??? #NokereKoersehttps://t.co/s6ogKJiZ1l pic.twitter.com/eurFaImC6v

— Sporza ? (@sporza_koers) March 14, 2018

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Adam Blythe was 2nd last year for Aqua Blue Sport. However, the race has changed since then to include more cobbles and inclines.

And that terrain changed, coupled with a ferocious turn of speed by Wout van Aert (Vérandas Willems-Crelan) with about 35km to go, split the race to pieces.

Dunne's group gained over 10 minutes at one point. But as the race split in the chase behind an eight-strong chasing group closed in with about 25km to go.

Conor Dunne closed down by Team Sky

Dunne made his solo move with 21km to go and just before the catch was made. He went on to lead the race solo for 12km.

As he held off what became a 15-man chase group, it was caught by what remained of the peloton.

That left Conor Dunne still out front alone with a gap of just 15 seconds as the final cobbled sections loomed.

Finally, with just 9km remaining and as Team Sky drove the chase, Dunne was finally caught.

The peloton would then split to pieces over the cobbles in the finale. That paved the way for a sprint from the 30 riders who made up the lead group at the finish.