The rolling course of the Brussels Cycling Classic was always going to create an exciting race, and IPT made sure to animate the event, with Jens Reynders fighting hard to get into the day’s breakaway, and Derek Gee attacking in the last two kilometers. However it was Tom van Asbroeck who was IPT’s best finisher, sprinting to a respectable eighth place, with Derek rounding out the top 10.
Tom wanted more from the race, but was delighted with how the team worked, and knows the team can achieve better results if they race as they did today.
“I was looking for a better result, but I was boxed in in the last five hundred meters, so I had to work hard to chase back, so it’s not the result we were hoping for. But we did a great race as a team, we were active, and the team is going very strong, so we can’t complain about that, but the results aren’t quite there yet considering how hard we worked. I’m sure in the next weeks we will get some good results for sure, if we keep racing like this.”
Whilst it was Van Asbroeck who had the better finish, Derek was pleased with his performance, rolling the dice attacking with two kilometers to go, before helping lead out Tom to his eighth place.
“Coming off the Giro I was looking forward to seeing how my legs would be. I’m really happy with how I felt in the race and the team was super active so it was an awesome atmosphere to step into. We were hoping for a little more in the final but I think we can be happy with what the result shows for the coming races.”
Sports Director Dirk Demol was also pleased with the team’s overall performance, in such an animated and attritional race, but was sure the team could have done better if the riders had more luck on their side.
“8th and 10th is a nice result, but we definitely deserved better, as the team is riding well, they’re all in great condition, and we had a good mentality as a team. We just need to have a little more luck. Today when the split in the race happened there was a crash in front of Giacomo which he couldn’t avoid. It was a big group up front with Tom and Derek, and Tom was fast but he was a little boxed in, so he had to come from far back. It was very impressive again from Derek, especially after a hard Giro that he’s able to fight. The race was hard, and the parcours was all new to him, so he fought hard and a tenth place is fantastic. We’re working so well as a team, I’m optimistic for the races in the coming weeks.”
