Brabantse Pijl: Kristian Sbaragli holds on to top 20

Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) went on to win the 55th Brabantse Pijl after a strong ride over the final 35km of the race. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had both Kristian Sbaragli and Serge Pauwels involved in the business end of the race. Kristian would end the race in 18th place.

The Belgian victor would go on the attack with David Tanner (IAM Cycling) after the initial 3 attackers of the day were caught around the 40km to go mark. The duo would keep a 25″ lead over the peloton for the majority of their time out front while a number of attacks and counter attacks whittled the peloton down significantly on the tough 23km finishing circuit that included 5 hellingen.

Serge was seen to be putting in a strong ride at the head of the race, following all the dangerous moves and even launching a few counters of his own in the final 30km of the race. Kristian constantly stayed in the wheels of the favourites, hoping that the leading pair would soon falter and be reeled in for a small group sprint. It was only Tanner who would fade though as Hermans went solo at 4km to go and with 11 seconds to play with.

The main group was down to less than 25 riders with just the final 2 climbs to go and with no team having the numbers to organise a chase, it was down to individuals trying to jump across to the lone leader. Even Kristian tried his luck but to no avail, nobody would succeed and Hermans just held on to take an impressive win over Michael Matthews (Orica-Greenedge), Phillip Gilbert (BMC Racing) rounded out the podium.