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Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) emerged as the surprise winner of the Bredene Koksijde Classic, out-sprinting Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty).
A crash in the final bend took out the lead-out for Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and disrupted the run-in to the finish line, leaving only a dozen riders sprinting for the win.
Groenewegen opened up the sprint first but faded in the headwind. Mozzato capitalised on the move, getting a perfect lead-out from the Dutchman before coming around to snatch only the third victory of his career.
Thijssen started his effort from too far behind and could only manage third.
“I’m super happy especially because the season so far was not super. Today I think I changed a lot,” Mozzato said. “To win a race like this is really special because it’s a classic in Belgium.”
Mozzato proved to be attentive and anonymous throughout the race – the perfect formula to win a Belgian classic. He survived the Kemmelberg and made the split when the bunch shattered in the crosswinds.
“That was the biggest problem of the day. Everybody knew the day would be like this with the echelons and it was super nervous from the start,” Mozzato said. With the help of the team I tried to stay in front as possible. Then I survived the Kemmel.
“In the end, I think I did a pretty good job to save some energy…
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