E3 Prijs Harelbeke podium history | 2017 edition | 2019 edition | Start list

Harelbeke - Harelbeke, 206.5 km.

Nicki Terpstra wins in Harelbeke

The race: Here's the report from third-place Greg van Avermaet's BMC team.

23 March, 2018, Harelbeke (BEL): Greg Van Avermaet stood on the podium for the first time during the spring classics after taking third place in a nail-biting edition of Record Bank E3 Harelbeke.

Eight riders formed the day's breakaway and quickly gained an advantage of more than six minutes in the lead up to the first sector, the Wolvemnberg.

With only two sectors in the first 100km of the 206.5km race, the race situation remained calm until a huge crash wiped out or blocked half the peloton with 108km remaining, and blocked Jempy Drucker, Stefan Küng, Jürgen Roelandts, and Michael Schär.

Van Avermaet was joined by Alberto Bettiol and Francisco Ventoso in the front group which immediately started to eat into the breakaway's advantage with a hard pace being set to maintain the split in the peloton.

An attack from Niki Terpstra and Yves Lampaert (Quickstep Floors) with 70km to go caused more splits behind as riders tried to chase, and created a small chase group featuring Van Avermaet and many of the other race favorites.

Terpstra and Lampaert established a one-minute advantage and with 55km remaining, Van Avermaet powered away from the rest of the chase group before being caught by Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) and Philippe Gilbert (Quickstep-Floors).

Behind, the main peloton, featuring Küng and Roelandts, began to gain some ground and with 25km to go, caught Van Avermaet's group to strengthen the chase behind then-solo leader Terpstra.

The BMC Racing Team trio was working hard as part of the chasing group with each rider taking their turn at the front approaching the 20km to go mark.

Terpstra's advantage was holding steady at around 35 seconds as the race entered the final 10km of the day before a series of attacks, including two strong moves from Van Avermaet, saw the chasers start to close in on him. Küng was driving hard at the front of the group as the gap fell to 15 seconds with just 3km to go and soon after, Roelandts went on the attack.

This move saw the chasing group strung out along the road heading under the flamme rouge. However, it all came back together again by the time the riders hit the finishing straight, 20 seconds behind the lone leader. 

In the end, Terpstra was able to hold on to take the day's honors ahead of his teammate Philippe Gilbert and Van Avermaet, who dug deep in the closing meters and was able to find the extra kick needed to sprint on to the podium in third place.

Küng and Roelandts also showed their strength and determination in the final stages of today's race and finished 10th and 12th respectively. 

Quotes from the Finish Line:

Greg Van Avermaet:
"The problem was I did a lot of efforts in the middle of the race and then when the big group came back to us it was a bit hard for me to reset my legs and try to find a little bit of freshness again. It was hard to close [the gap]. We all had to work together and while we had three guys in there, the most important thing was that everyone worked together to try and pull Terpstra back but he was super strong. On the big road, we went pretty fast but we didn't come much closer to him so I think in the end, probably the strongest guy won."

"I was super happy with my legs and my race. I put in a lot of effort and it was also a good training for me. In the end, I am also pretty happy with my result. I am on the podium and okay, it is not a win but I know how hard it is to win these kinds of races so I am pretty happy with what I did today."

"Stefan did everything he could to keep it rolling and also Jürgen tried to do his best with a few attacks but it was super hard because if we had really taken the lead with two guys, the others could have saved their legs too and that would also have made them harder to beat. There were some fast guys like Trentin in the group. We had Gilbert who never did one pull and his team were also not pulling so it was a big risk. We tried to do our best and it is sometimes pretty complicated in a race."

Stefan Küng:
"First of all, I was lucky I didn't go down in the crash. I was stuck in it and my bike was broken but I got my spare bike pretty quickly and then I could start to chase. It was quite hard to get back there because it was an uphill section with a bit of headwind but together with Moscon we managed to get back in there. I felt like 'okay this is the first group now' and then Jürgen told me about the forty guys in front with Greg. To be honest, when they couldn't get closer, it was always around 1'30", I thought the race could be over. But then we caught group after group, rider after rider. Jürgen and I worked well together and with his experience, he helped to get me into the right position. We were able to stay up there with the best guys before catching Greg's group."

"It was then a question of what we did from there. We had the numbers but Quick-Step Floors still had two guys so, if we closed the gap and they sat on then the attacking would start all over again. I tried to make a little selection but it was hard. We did our best and to be honest I don't know what we could have done differently. We finished with a podium place and we know that we are ready as a team and that's something that we can take away from the race."

"Today's result was my best in a classic. I was feeling good the whole day and even when we hit the Kwaremont, I knew that I had it in my legs to follow the strongest guys. For me, it was definitely a bit of a confidence boost as over the last few years I have always had some issues heading into the classics. I was maybe a little over excited and I was always caught up in crashes or had mechanicals. Now, I know that if everything works well that I have the legs to be in a good position. It is good to be up there as that's what we live for, to race for the win and I hope to be up there in the final of the next races too."

Jürgen Roelandts:
"There were some captains from other teams also stuck behind the crash, namely Naesen and the Astana Pro Team guys and Sep Vanmarcke. Those three teams were really pulling the whole time but of course at the front, they were also pulling. It was really a race in every part of the peloton so that made it hard. It was a very open race but I think Stefan and I kept a good position in the front all the time and we also showed we had good legs. At one point it was easy because we were with eight guys and Greg was in front so we didn't have to ride but then we came to Greg and Terpstra was still in front so we needed to start riding obviously. I think Terpstra did a really big effort because we were turning with nine guys and he stayed out in front so I think he deserved the victory. I think everyone was on the limit because some of the other guys had also come from the back."

"I tried an all or nothing approach with 1.5km to go but Trentin closed the gap and it was then over for me for the sprint. Greg always has a good sprint after a hard race and he showed that today. After my fifth place in Milan-San Remo and being in the front group here I think I showed some good signs for the next two weeks. The team was also in a good condition so I am looking forward to the races coming up."

Sports Director, Fabio Baldato:
"The best thing to take from today is the condition of the riders. I saw a great Stefan Kung and Jurgen Roelandts. Stefan was one of the last to start from the crash and he was able to make it back into the race. Greg Van Avermaet did an amazing ride like always. Quickstep had the numbers in front and they rode well, and they put other riders in difficultly. The good thing is the performance of the team with three riders in the top 12 and Greg on the podium. Of course, we can talk together and see what we can do better, what we did wrong, how to improve communication in the final between all of us, even me, to be better."

Complete Results:

206.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.815 km/hr

1	Terpstra, Niki	Quick-Step Floors	5hr 3min 34sec
2	Gilbert, Philippe	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
3	Van Avermaet, Greg	BMC	s.t.
4	Naesen, Oliver	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
5	Benoot, Tiesj	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
6	Stuyven, Jasper	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
7	Vanmarcke, Sep	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
8	Moscon, Gianni	Sky	s.t.
9	Štybar, Zdeněk	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
10	Küng, Stefan	BMC	s.t.
11	Trentin, Matteo	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
12	Roelandts, Jürgen	BMC	@ 27sec
13	Matthews, Michael	Team Sunweb	+ 02' 52''
14	Valgren, Michael	Astana	s.t.
15	Backaert, Frederik	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
16	Sénéchal, Florian	Quick-Step Floors	+ 02' 57''
17	Lampaert, Yves	Quick-Step Floors	+ 03' 00''
18	Mezgec, Luka	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 03' 19''
19	Haussler, Heinrich	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
20	Drücker, Jempy	BMC	s.t.
21	Degenkolb, John	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
22	Kuznetsov, Vyatcheslav	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
23	Durbridge, Luke	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
24	Hagen, Edvald Boasson	Dimension Data	s.t.
25	Andersen, Søren	Team Sunweb	s.t.
26	Sagan, Peter	Bora-Hansgrohe	+ 03' 23''
27	Martin, Tony	Katusha-Alpecin	+ 03' 27''
28	Jules, Justin	WB Aqua Protect-Veranclassic	+ 07' 03''
29	Chavanel, Sylvain	Direct Energie	s.t.
30	Vandenbergh, Stijn	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
31	Ligthart, Pim	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
32	Oliveira, Nelson	Movistar	s.t.
33	Kort, Koen de	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
34	Nielsen, Magnus	Astana	s.t.
35	Gallopin, Tony	Ag2r La Mondiale	+ 08' 09''
36	Van Gestel, Dries	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
37	Sieberg, Marcel	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
38	Teunissen, Mike	Team Sunweb	s.t.
39	Ventoso, Francisco	BMC	s.t.
40	Kristoff, Alexander	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
41	Schär, Michael	BMC	s.t.
42	Allegaert, Piet	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
43	Doull, Owain	Sky	s.t.
44	Gaudin, Damien	Direct Energie	s.t.
45	Gołaś, Michał	Sky	s.t.
46	Duijn, Huub	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
47	Hayman, Mathew	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
48	Bauer, Jack	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
49	Colbrelli, Sonny	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
50	Goethem, Brian van	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	+ 11' 15''
51	Baarle, Dylan van	Sky	s.t.
52	Van Keirsbulck, Guillaume	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
53	Duval, Julien	Ag2r La Mondiale	+ 14' 05''
54	Politt, Nils	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
55	Declercq, Tim	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
56	Démare, Arnaud	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
57	Sprengers, Thomas	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
58	Le Gac, Olivier	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
59	Arcas, Jorge	Movistar	s.t.
60	Ginneken, Sjoerd van	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
61	Van Melsen, Kevin	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
62	Kolář, Michal	Bora-Hansgrohe	s.t.
63	Pfingsten, Christoph	Bora-Hansgrohe	s.t.
64	García, Iván	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
65	Rickaert, Jonas	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
66	Bystrøm, Sven Erik	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
67	Pichot, Alexandre	Direct Energie	s.t.
68	Turgis, Tanguy	Vital Concept	s.t.
69	Müller, Patrick	Vital Concept	s.t.
70	Devolder, Stijn	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
71	Carretero, Héctor	Movistar	s.t.
72	Kirsch, Alex	WB Aqua Protect-Veranclassic	s.t.
73	Mullen, Ryan	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
74	Smith, Dion	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
75	Pasqualon, Andrea	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
76	Petit, Adrien	Direct Energie	s.t.
77	Vermote, Julien	Dimension Data	s.t.
78	Maes, Nikolas	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
79	Houle, Hugo	Astana	s.t.
80	Van Hoecke, Gijs	Team Lotto NL-Jumbo	s.t.
81	Hofland, Moreno	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
82	Budding, Martijn	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
83	Barbero, Carlos	Movistar	s.t.
84	Wiśniowski, Łukasz	Sky	s.t.
85	Amador, Andrey	Movistar	s.t.
86	Landa, Mikel	Movistar	s.t.
87	Božič, Borut	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
88	Emden, Jos van	Team Lotto NL-Jumbo	s.t.
89	Marcato, Marco	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
90	Roosen, Timo	Team Lotto NL-Jumbo	s.t.
91	Jansen, Amund	Team Lotto NL-Jumbo	s.t.
92	Korsæth, Truls	Astana	s.t.
93	Langeveld, Sebastian	EF Education First-Drapac	+ 14' 10''
94	Modolo, Sacha	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
95	Lutsenko, Alexey	Astana	s.t.

Start list with back numbers, March 22, 2018:

	BMC
1	VAN AVERMAET Greg
2	ROELANDTS Jurgen
3	VENTOSO Francisco
4	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre
5	SCHÄR Michael
6	BETTIOL Alberto
7	KÜNG Stefan
	BORA-HANSGROHE
11	SAGAN Peter
12	OSS Daniel
13	KOLAR Michal
14	PFINGSTEN Christoph
15	ACKERMANN Pascal
16	SELIG Rüdiger
17	SCHWARZMANN Michael
	AG2R LA MONDIALE
21	NAESEN Oliver
22	VANDENBERGH Stijn
23	BARBIER Rudy
24	DUVAL Julien
25	GALLOPIN Tony
26	BAGDONAS Gediminas
27	DENZ Nico
	QUICK-STEP FLOORS
31	GILBERT Philippe
32	DECLERCQ Tim
33	LAMPAERT Yves
34	KEISSE Iljo
35	SENECHAL Florian
36	STYBAR Zdenek
37	TERPSTRA Niki
	LOTTO-SOUDAL
41	BENOOT Tiesj
42	HOFLAND Moreno
43	MAES Nikolas
44	DE BUYST Jasper
45	FRISON Frederik
46	NAESEN Lawrence
47	SIEBERG Marcel
	ASTANA
51	DE VREESE Laurens
52	GATTO Oscar
53	HOULE Hugo
54	KORSAETH Truls Engen
55	LUTSENKO Alexey
56	CORT NIELSEN Magnus
57	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael
	BAHRAIN-MERIDA
61	HAUSSLER Heinrich
62	COLBRELLI Sonny
63	GARCIA Ivan
64	BOZIC Borut
65	KOREN Kristjan
66	PER David
67	PIBERNIK Luka
	GROUPAMA-FDJ
71	DEMARE Arnaud
72	DELAGE Mickael
73	SARREAU Marc
74	GUARNIERI Jacopo
75	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
76	LE GAC Olivier
77	SINKELDAM Ramon
	MITCHELTON-SCOTT
81	HAYMAN Mathew
82	MEZGEC Luka
83	DURBRIDGE Luke
84	EDMONDSON Alexander
85	BAUER Jack
86	HEPBURN Michael
87	TRENTIN Matteo
	MOVISTAR
91	AMADOR Andrey
92	ARCAS Jorge
93	BARBERO Carlos
94	LANDA Mikel
95	CARRETERO Hector
96	OLIVEIRA Nelson
97	SÜTTERLIN Jasha
	DIMENSION DATA
101	VERMOTE Julien
102	DOUGALL Nick
103	KING Benjamin
104	GIBBONS Ryan
105	THOMSON Jay Robert
107	BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
	EF EDUCATION FIRST-DRAPAC
111	VANMARCKE Sep
112	MODOLO Sacha
113	LANGEVELD Sebastian
114	PHINNEY Taylor
115	SCULLY Thomas
116	VAN ASBROECK Tom
117	DOCKER Mitchell
	KATUSHA-ALPECIN
121	MARTIN Tony
122	HALLER Marco
123	KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav
124	GONCALVES Jose
125	PLANCKAERT Baptiste
126	POLITT Nils
127	ZABEL Rick
	LOTTO NL-JUMBO
131	LEEZER Tom
132	JANSEN Amund Grøndahl
133	ROOSEN Timo
134	WAGNER Robert
135	VAN EMDEN Jos
136	VAN HOECKE Gijs
137	WYNANTS Maarten
	SKY
141	HALVORSEN Kristoffer
142	GOLAS Michal
143	KNEES Christian
144	MOSCON Gianni
145	DOULL Owain
146	VAN BAARLE Dylan
147	WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
	TEAM SUNWEB
151	MATTHEWS Michael
152	BAUHAUS Phil
153	CURVERS Roy
154	HOFSTEDE Lennard
155	KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
156	STAMSNIJDER Tom
157	TEUNISSEN Mike
	TREK-SEGAFREDO
161	STUYVEN Jasper
162	DEGENKOLB John
163	MULLEN Ryan
164	PEDERSEN Mads
165	RAST Grégory
166	DE KORT Koen
167	REIJNEN Kiel
	UAE-TEAM EMIRATES
171	KRISTOFF Alexander
172	CONSONNI Simone
173	GANNA Filippo
174	BYSTROM Sven Erik
175	MARCATO Marco
176	SWIFT Ben
177	TROIA Oliviero
	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE
181	ALLEGAERT Piet
182	DE GENDT Aimé
183	VAN GESTEL Dries
184	DELTOMBE Kevin
185	FARAZIJN Maxime
186	RICKAERT Jonas
187	SPRENGERS Thomas
	WANTY–GROUPE GOBERT
191	VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
192	BACKAERT Frederik
193	SMITH Dion
194	PASQUALON Andrea
195	ANTONINI Simone
196	VAN MELSEN Kevin
197	OFFREDO Yoann
	VERANDA'S WILLEMS-CRELAN
201	DEVOLDER Stijn
202	DE BONDT Dries
203	DE BIE Sean
204	DUYN Huub
205	KRUOPIS Aidis
206	STEELS Stijn
207	VAN BREUSSEGEM Elias
	WB-AQUA PROTECT-VERANCLASSIC
211	DUQUENNOY Jimmy
212	STASSEN Julien
213	KIRSCH Alex
214	JULES Justin
215	MASSON Christophe
216	SPENGLER Lukas
217	DEHAES Kenny
	DIRECT ENERGIE
221	CHAVANEL Sylvain
222	CARDIS Romain
223	GAUDIN Damien
224	GENE Yohann
225	PETIT Adrien
226	PICHOT Alexandre
227	TULIK Angelo
	ROOMPOT-NEDERLANDSE LOTERIJ
231	BUDDING Martijn
232	GERTS Floris
233	LIGTHART Pim
234	WIPPERT Wouter
235	VAN GINNEKEN Sjoerd
236	VAN GOETHEM Brian
237	VAN SCHIP Jan Willem
	VITAL CONCEPT
241	COQUARD Bryan
242	GAREL Adrien
243	MORICE Julien
244	LE BON Johan
245	LECROQ Jérémy
246	MÜLLER Patrick
247	TURGIS Tanguy