Victory may have eluded Israel – Premier Tech at Danilith Nokere Koerse on Wednesday, but fourth for Pascal Ackermann, sixth for Tom Van Asbroeck, and ninth for Hugo Hofstetter ensured the team came away from the Belgian one-day race with plenty of plaudits.
Van Asbroeck in particular performed impressively for the team throughout, marking countless accelerations at the head of the peloton. Most notably, with 20 kilometers remaining, he marshaled a move when Alpecin – Deceuninck attempted to split the race, then he ensured that an acceleration from Ethan Hayter (IGD) leaving the pavé sector at Doorn inside the final 10 kilometers also came to nothing.
Crashes disrupted the run into the finish, most notably when Hofstetter had to take evasive action to avoid coming down in the final kilometer. Tim Merlier (SDQ) was unstoppable as he raced up the cobbled Nokereberg to take his third-consecutive win in the race, but Ackermann – having been blocked in when starting his sprint for the line – pipped Simone Consonni (LTK) to take his second best result for IPT this season.
“We did a perfect job as a team – we were in all the groups in the final,” says Ackermann. “I launched the sprint when I was supposed to – unluckily, they blocked the left side [of the road] so I had to restart again on the uphill and missed the speed needed for the victory.”
Most of the team at Nokere will go on to race the Bredene Koksijde Classic on Friday – including Ackermann, who has won that race twice, most recently in 2022.
