Sunday March 3, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Jarne Van de Paar won the GP Monseré on Sunday. In a soaking wet edition of the Lotto Cycling Cup competition, the 23-year-old Flemish from Lotto Dstny was the fastest sprinter in a thinned out peloton. He stayed ahead of Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex) and David Dekker (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
After the start in Ichtegem, the peloton rode 25 kilometers to the finish in Roeselare. There the riders started the local lap of 57.8 kilometers, which had to be completed three times. In each circuit the peloton was given the Hoogledeberg (600 meters at 3.2%), the Ruidenbergstraat (1 km at 2.1%), the Lookhuisstraat (1.2 km at 1.5%) and the cobblestones of the Gitsberg (400 meters at 3.2%).
The first leading group of the day consisted of Victor Vercouillie (Flanders-Baloise), Mathias Vanoverberghe (Philippe Wagner-Bazin), Tom Bohli (Tudor) and Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto-Isorex). The only one who managed to make the crossing afterwards was the Dutchman Meindert Weulink from Parkhotel Valkenburg. Their lead never became much larger than three minutes, mainly due to the work of Intermarché-Wanty and DSM-firmenich PostNL.
Harthijs de Vries attacked in the preliminary final – photo: Cor Vos
There were skirmishes within the peloton more than 80 kilometers before the finish. Baptiste Planckaert and Pierre Thierry escaped while the early breakaway was captured, but their attempt did not last long either. The next attack came from Hartthijs de Vries, the TDT-Unibet rider who had fallen earlier in the race. In soaking wet conditions he took 45 seconds on the peloton, where Uno-X Mobility had taken the lead.
Sprint of the dying swans
The weather did not make the race any easier. Nervousness also caused falls on the narrow tracks, and favorite Arne Marit dropped out early in the final, partly due to hypothermia. De Vries’ attack attempt ultimately failed 23 kilometers from the finish, also due to works by Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Together with Uno-X Mobility, the French team aimed for a sprint.
Gitsberg was not attacked the last time, so the race turned into a sprint by a thinned out peloton. A sprint of the dying swans, in which Jarne Van de Paar was defeated excellently and had the fastest legs. After his stage victory last year in the Tour of Taihu Lake, it is the second professional victory of his career.