Today the An Post-Chain Reaction-Sean Kelly team took on the U.C.I. 1.1 ranked Schaal Sels, this pan-flat race started and finished in the Merksem suburb of Antwerp and the team completed four different laps in the area, a total of 200km.
The main difficulty was going to be the wind and the 19 sections of cobbles totalling 23.5km. The eight riders on the team were Sam Bennett, Ronan Mc Laughlin, Sean Downey, Mark McNally, Wout Fransen, Alphonse Vermote, Nicolas Vereecken and Laurent Van Den Bak.
The team were really motivated for the race thanks to the two wins earlier in the week. This motivation was clear to see early on in the race as the team had representation in every break trying to get away.
Ronan Mc Laughlin eventually got into a four man move that did stick after approximately 35km, this break never gained more than 1:30min though and was reeled back in 40km later after the Topsport Vlaanderen team decided to try and split the peloton over some of the cobbled sections and exposed windy roads.
This surge in pace did split the peloton, but not for long as most of the groups were able to regain contact shortly afterwards. As the pace settled a little, Sean Downey got himself into the next breakaway to go clear. This move never gained much time but it was a very clever move tactically as it meant Sean didn't have to fight for position over what was to be the most decisive section of the race, across the border in the Netherlands.
As Sean was rolling through with his breakaway companions, behind, the peloton was constantly reducing in size as the wind caused echelons and splits and a very long cobbled section further reduced the numbers.
Unfortunately during all this chaos Mark McNally punctured, possibly the worst possible time to have a problem and was unable to get back to the front group because of this. Ronan also came unstuck during this section getting caught up in a crash and losing his place in what was left of the peloton.
After 130km of racing Sean’s group was caught and immediately another ten-man group went clear and Sam got himself into this move. With 70km still remaining this group had to work really well together to gain and maintain their advantage and although two riders came across on the finishing laps this was the group that would decide the outcome of the race.
Sam has been in fantastic form in recent races and everyone was hoping he could achieve another excellent result here. It would be difficult though with some teams having up to three riders in the move. Pieter Jacobs of Topsport slipped away to take the win but Sam had very cleverly got himself into a three man move inside the final three kilometres.
The remaining three riders sprinted for the last two podium places but Sam was unable to manoeuvre either of other two to the front to lead out the sprint. With the group closing in rapidly behind he had to lead out the sprint. As a result the other two riders were able to out-sprint him.
This is still a fantastic result in such a difficult race and once again proves Sam's hard work and dedication is paying off big time for him.