Hagenes sprints to fifth place in Antwerp Port Epic
The seventh edition of the Belgian one-day race presented the peloton with a series of cobbled and unpaved roads. Along the way Robert Wagner’s team had to deal with a number of bad luck incidents. Milan Vader broke his saddle and Loe van Belle suffered a flat tire when he was at the front of the race.
Nevertheless, the yellow-and-black brigade fought back and Julien Vermote tried to surprise the peloton with an all-or-nothing attempt. He got a small gap, but was unable to stay ahead of the reduced peloton. In the sprint, which was won by Alexander Kristoff, Hagenes finished in fifth place.
“Looking at the big picture, I think the guys showed themselves well.”
Robert Wagner
“It was a beautiful and very special race. I’m certainly not unsatisfied with how the guys rode,” sports director Wagner reflected on the race. “But like every team, we had quite a bit of bad luck. Nevertheless, we were able to put a lot of things right at the crucial moments. Looking at the big picture, I think the guys showed themselves well.”
Wagner is proud of his team’s fighting spirit. “Since we didn’t have a sprinter with us, we didn’t want it to come down to a sprint. Julien did a fantastic effort in the last kilometer and Per sprinted to a great fifth place. Conditionally we might have deserved more, but I think we got everything out of it.”
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Antwerp Port Epic / Sels Trophy
One day race
Result
Result
1
Alexander Kristoff
Uno-X Mobility
04:01:45
2
Emilien Jeannière
TotalEnergies
+00:00:00
3
Oded Kogut
Israel Premier Tech Academy
+00:00:00
5
Per Strand Hagenes
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:00:00
26
Julien Vermote
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:00:03
31
Loe van Belle
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:30
33
Jesse Kramer
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:30
70
Milan Vader
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:06:49
81
Tosh Van der Sande
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:06:58
90
Sjors Lugthart
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:10:56
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Cycling – World Tour men
1
