2021 Primus Classic Impanis-Van Petegem (HC), Belgium
23rd edition: Saturday, September 18, 2021
Primus Classic Impanis-Van Petegem podium history | 2019 edition (race not run in 2020) | 2022 edition
Brakel - Haacht, 197.7 km
Florian Senechal wins the 2021 Primus Classic. Photo: Getty Sport
Weather at the finish city of Haacht at 2:50 PM, local time: 23C (74F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the east at 11 km/hr (7 mph). No rain is forecast.
The race: Here's the report from winner Florian Senechal's Deceuninck-Quick Step team.
Florian Sénéchal is having the best season of his career and the 28-year-old from Cambrai, who recently extended his contract with the team, shows it with every opportunity. After breaking the ice in 2021 at the Vuelta a España, where he won stage 13, he basked in another victory three weeks later, at Primus Classic, for many riders the last appointment before the World Championships.
The Wolfpack produced another sterling performance, an astonishing show of strength on the hilly course that featured some of the roads that will be used at the World Championships, which resulted in the team having five riders in the top 10 – an indication of Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s numerical superiority throughout an entire day that was controlled by our squad from start to finish.
Resplendent in his rainbow jersey, World Champion Julian Alaphilippe was one of the main instigators, his powerful acceleration inside 40 kilometers to go – after having countered an attack just minutes earlier – creating an important selection. From that small but strong group which included four men in blue, Mikkel Honoré unleashed a blistering attack that resulted in five riders, including Florian Sénéchal, plugging away from their companions. It wasn’t long before they put a decisive one-minute gap between them and the chasers, and once the margin became a comfortable one, our riders went on the offensive.
Mikkel was relentless in the way he put pressure on the other men at the front, a flurry of attacks on the flat roads to Wespelaar forcing them to chase hard in order to keep things together under the flamme rouge. Once he was caught, the Dane stormed to the front of the group and produced a tremendous lead-out for Florian, who launched a devastating sprint 120 meters from the line and signed off the Wolfpack’s 61st victory of the season.
“I am so happy. The best thing about today is that we won as a team – everyone worked for this to happen and I want to thank them for that. They were all so strong today and had a clear objective in mind, which was to take the victory.”
“It wasn’t easy out there, as it was raced as a classic and had all the ingredients of one: small roads, short climbs, a nervous peloton and many attacks. Mikkel was incredible in the final part of the race as he kept attacking and made the others chase hard behind him. For my side, I targeted the sprint in case he would get caught and I’m delighted I could finish it off. It was the perfect rehearsal for the Worlds, which gives us a lot of confidence for next Sunday”, said the first Frenchman to win Primus Classic.
Complete results:
197.7 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.279 km/hr
| 1 | Florian Senechal | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 4hr 34min 5sec |
| 2 | Tosh van der Sande | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 3 | Jasper Stuyven | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 4 | Mikkel Honore | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 5 | Simon Clarke | Qhubeka-NextHash | @ 4sec |
| 6 | Yves Lampaert | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 7 | Zdenek Stybar | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 1:00 |
| 8 | Mathieu van der Poel | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 9 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 10 | Davide Ballerini | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 11 | Matis Louvel | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 12 | Stan Dewulf | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 13 | Hugo Hofstetter | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 14 | Simone Consonni | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 15 | Giovanni Aleotti | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 16 | Oliver Naesen | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 17 | Martin Urianstad | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 18 | Lawrence Naesen | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 19 | Tom van Asbroeck | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 20 | Michael Gogl | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 21 | Ilan van Wilder | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 22 | Edward Theuns | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 23 | Danny van Poppel | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 24 | Toms Skujins | Trek-Segafredo | s.t. |
| 25 | Mathijs Paasschens | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 26 | Gianni Vermeersch | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 27 | Dimitri Claeys | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 28 | Andrea Bagioli | Deceuninck-Quick Step | s.t. |
| 29 | Carlos Barbero | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 30 | Dries de Pooter | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 31 | Amaury Capiot | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 32 | Gijs van Hoecke | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 33 | Tiesj Benoot | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 34 | Aime de Gendt | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 35 | Ward Vanhoof | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 36 | Hideto Nakane | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 37 | Emils Liepins | Trek-Segafredo | 1:06 |
| 38 | Thymen Arensman | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 39 | Filippo Conca | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 40 | Lukasz Owsian | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 41 | Lennert Teugels | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 42 | Guillaume Boivin | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 43 | Andreas Goeman | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 44 | Thomas Joseph | Tarteletto-Isorex | 1:11 |
| 45 | Laurens Huys | Bingoal-WB | 1:15 |
| 46 | Sebastian Langeveld | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 47 | Julian Alaphilippe | Deceuninck-Quick Step | 1:16 |
| 48 | Emmanuel Morin | Cofidis | 1:19 |
| 49 | Dries de Bondt | Alpecin-Fenix | 1:19 |
| 50 | Sep Vanmarcke | Israel Start-Up Nation | 2:24 |
| 51 | Piotr Havik | Beat Cycling | 5:43 |
| 52 | Jeroen Eyskens | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 53 | Nathan Haas | Cofidis | 6:53 |
| 54 | Ruben Apers | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 55 | Anton Palzer | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 56 | Conn McDunphy | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 57 | Kamil Malecki | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 58 | Ylber Sefa | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 59 | Aden Paterson | A Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 60 | Sebastien Grignard | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 61 | Casper van Uden | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 62 | Stijn Siemons | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 63 | Loic Vliegen | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 64 | Laurens de Vreese | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 65 | Guillaume van Keirsbulck | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 66 | Dillon Corkery | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 67 | Szymon Sajnok | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 68 | Jempy Drucker | Cofidis | s.t. |
| 69 | Tim Merlier | Alpecin-Fenix | s.t. |
| 70 | Taco van der Hoorn | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 71 | Alex Colman | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | s.t. |
| 72 | Clément Russo | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 73 | Julius van den Berg | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 74 | Logan Owen | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 75 | Anthony Jullien | Ag2r-Citroën | s.t. |
| 76 | Martin Laas | Bora-hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 77 | Daniel Arroyave | EF Education-Nippo | s.t. |
| 78 | Stefano Oldani | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 79 | Jordi Meeus | Bora-hansgrohe | 6:53 |
| 80 | Felix Gall | Team DSM | 9:12 |
| 81 | Jens Reynders | Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 11:33 |
| 82 | Nils Sinschek | A Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 83 | Robin Juel | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 84 | Romain Combaud | Team DSM | s.t. |
| 85 | Connor Brown | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 86 | Martijn Budding | Beat Cycling | 16:19 |
| 87 | Cyrus Monk | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 88 | Jenthe Biermans | Israel Start-Up Nation | s.t. |
| 89 | Lars Saugstad | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 90 | Sven Burger | Beat Cycling | 17:13 |
| 91 | Jan-Willem van Schip | Beat Cycling | s.t. |
| 92 | Gerben Thijssen | Lotto Soudal | s.t. |
| 93 | Adriaan Janssen | A Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 94 | Jacob Relaes | Tarteletto-Isorex | s.t. |
| 95 | Boy van Poppel | Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert | s.t. |
| 96 | Stefano Museeuw | Beat Cycling | s.t. |
| 97 | Jakob Egholm | Trek-Segafredo | 19:17 |
| 98 | Martins Pluto | A Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 99 | Bernat Font | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 100 | Stijn Appel | A Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 101 | Winner Anacona | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 102 | Oskar Johansson | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 103 | Bodi del Grosso | A Bloc CT | s.t. |
| 104 | Erlend Blikra | Uno-X | s.t. |
| 105 | Brendan Rhim | EvoPro Racing | s.t. |
| 106 | Dorian de Maeght | Bingoal-WB | s.t. |
| 107 | Donavan Grondin | Arkéa-Samsic | s.t. |
| 108 | Bert-Jan Lindeman | Qhubeka-NextHash | s.t. |
| 109 | Quentin Venner | Bingoal-WB | 20:12 |