Zdenek Stybar wins E3 BinckBank Classic

Stybar won from a five-way sprint, beating Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Greg van Avermaet (CCC Team) into second and third place respectively. Coming in fourth was Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First), with Stybar’s team mate, Bob Jungels an exhausted fifth across the line.

Jungels attacked very early in the day, in similar style to his victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne this year, successfully bridging over to the breakaway then driving it on from there for around 50km. It was this effort that proved to be too much for Jungels in the final, but as always, Deceuninck had a plan B. And C. And D.

With the Luxembourg national champ out front for almost all of the final 60km, Stybar was afforded an armchair ride as other racers expended their energy in chasing down the break. It was a super-human effort from Van Avermaet at 20km to go that proved decisive, with the Olympic champion powering the small group across the gap to Jungels. The attack from Van Avermaet was enough to dislodge Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) and shed some other rivals too.

Eight riders formed a breakaway almost immediately after the flag was waved to end the neutralised start, comprised of Jaime Castrillo (Movistar Team), Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), Stijn Steels (Roompot-Charles), Ludwig De Winter (Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team), Mihkel Räim (Israel Cycling Academy), Aksel Nommela (Wallonie Bruxelles), Thomas Sprengers (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Lionel Taminiaux (Wallonie Bruxelles).

While their gap at one point reached the six-minute margin, the advantage of the leaders quickly tumbled once the cobbled sections and steep Flandrian climbs began in earnest.

Early salvos were exchanged by the race favourites on the Taaienberg, the race's 7th climb, 80km from the finish. Attacks flew thick and fast on the climb with Danny van Poppel (Jumbo Visma) putting the boot into the big names. The accelerations in the bunch spelled the end for the breakaway, too, with their gap reduced to an easily-bridgeable 27 seconds. Jungels duly made the junction to what remained of the eight-man escape, quickly shedding some riders and rebuilding their gap to around 55 seconds at its largest.

Jungels shed the last of his companions on the day's final cobbled climb, the Karnemelkbeekstraat, powering clear of Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) from the break, and two pursuers, Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar) and Nils Politt (Katusha) who had bridged over from the peloton.

While Jungels powered on alone, indecision seemed to reign in the peloton, causing some commentators to declare the result a foregone conclusion.

Eventually, however, the Van Avermaet attack came and Jungels seemed to run out of steam just shy of the finish line. Stybar tried to capitalise on his fresher legs in the final kilometres, launching a couple of stinging attacks that were eventually covered by Bettiol and van Aert. In the final though, Stybar was still too strong for the others in the group.

Stybar's win represents his best result ever and puts him in a fantastic position for Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday and the Tour of Flanders a week later. The other teams in the WorldTour, meanwhile, must continue scratching their heads as to how they might possibly beat Deceuninck's boys in blue.