Watch winner Alexey Tsatevich riding like a man possessed to hold off the field up the tough finishing straight.
Jack Wilson got his An Post-Chainreaction career off to a strong start at the second time of asking in Belgium today, Wednesday, when he finished in the main group at the 206km GP La Samyn in a field that included some of the biggest teams in the world.
It was the teenager’s first major assignment with his new team after the Beverbeek Classic in Belgium at the weekend, and he will have gained some confidence from his early season condition which allowed him to very much hold his own in a race that took over five hours.
He came home at the tail end of a 62-man group that finished on the same time as winner Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha). The Russian jumped what was left of the main peloton inside the final kilometre in what was a testing finale. He quickly overhauled Frenchman Sébastien Chavanel (Europcar) who had also tried a very late attack, and distanced him to take a strong and determined solo win.
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He just about held off the sprint in the bunch right behind, with Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil) taking second place after almost catching the winner on the line.
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Earlier, Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas had made much of the running. He escaped in a four-man group after the day’s main breakaway had been caught and later pressed on alone. However, he was caught by the main group, setting up the finale for a group sprint only for the script to be torn up by Tsatevich.
Apart from Wilson, the other Irish listed finishers were Sam Bennett and Ronan McLaughlin (both also An Post-Chainreaction). They finished 45 seconds and 6:46 down respectively.
GP Le Samyn: Frameries - Dour 206km
1 Alexey Tsatevich (Rus) Katusha 5:05:19
2 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
3 Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Lotto Belisol
5 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN-Qhubeka
6 Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
7 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Team NetApp-Endura
8 Andreas Stauff (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka
9 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling
10 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha
20 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post-Chainreaction
62 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction same time
72 Sam Bennett (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction @45 seconds
109 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction @6:46
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