2017 Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
(1.1), Belgium

102nd edition: Friday, September 15, 2017

Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) podium history | 2016 edition | 2019 edition (we did not cover the 2018 edition)

Koolskamp - Koolskamp, 16 laps of 12.3 km, 192 kilometers total distance

Fernando Gaviria is the fastest man of the day

The race: Here's the story from winner Fernando Gaviria's Quick-Step Floors team.

Protected and guided by a fantastic team, 23-year-old Fernando Gaviria became the first South American rider to win Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen.

For the sixth year running, Quick-Step Floors have amassed 50 UCI victories, the first team to do this during the current season. Jack Bauer was the one to kick off the party early in January, at the New Zealand National ITT Championships, and since then, 13 of the team's riders have joined him on the winners' list, putting Quick-Step Floors at the top in Classics, week-long stage races and Grand Tours.

Fernando Gaviria is one of these riders, the prodigious Colombian who took the Giro d'Italia by storm in May, where he nabbed four stages and the coveted maglia ciclamino. Gaviria, who was forced to miss this summer's races through injury, has returned to action for only a few weeks now and slowly began building his form for the World Championships in Bergen, with the signs so far being very encouraging for the 23-year-old's prospects.

After notching up a stage at the Tour of Britain last week, Fernando added another victory to his palmares, this time at the 102nd edition of the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen, where he benefited from the help of a well-oiled Quick-Step Floors team, who controlled the race from its dawn, keeping a constant eye on the escapees and bringing them back in the second-to-last lap.

In the final kilometers, several riders tried to escape from Quick-Step Floors' clutches, but it was to no avail, as our riders shut down every move with remarkable ease and assembled an impressive lead-out train which delivered the Colombian in a perfect position to unleash his devastating sprint, one that netted the team's 50th victory of the season.

Gaviria – who beat Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Soudal) – was all smiles at the finish in Koolskamp, acknowledging that this success augurs well before going to Norway, where he'll make his second World Championships outing.

"I'm really looking forward to that race; it will be very hard, also because of the weather, but I'm going there in good condition and very confident after this success, for which I want to thank my teammates, who put in a fantastic collective performance", said the first South American winner of the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen, who on Saturday will line out for Primus Classic, where he triumphed last season.

Sport director Rik van Slycke – himself a winner of the Belgian race in the '90s – was emotional at the finish line, and the reasons were obvious: "Today was a really special day for me, because it's exactly 25 years ago that I won this race. To win with the team again, 25 years later, it's just perfect. Without any strong winds to split the field, the tactic was to have all the guys there for the final and we executed the plan perfectly by controlling the race the whole day and bringing back the escapees. The lead-out was a textbook one and Gaviria finished it off by scoring the team's 50th win of 2017. We are really happy and satisfied with how we raced."

Complete Results:

192 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.214 km/hr

1	Fernando Gaviria	Quick-Step Floors	4hr 20min 33sec
2	Dylan Groenewegen	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
3	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
4	August Jensen	Team Coop	s.t.
5	Aksel Nõmmela	Leopard Pro Cycling	s.t.
6	Roy Jans	WB-Veranclassic	s.t.
7	Rudy Barbier	Ag2r	s.t.
8	Emiel Vermeulen	Roubaix-Lille Metropole	s.t.
9	Timothy Dupont	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
10	Konrad Geßner	Rad-Net Rose	s.t.
11	Jonas Rickaert	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
12	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	s.t.
13	Jelle Mannaerts	Tarteletto-Isorex	s.t.
14	André Looij	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
15	Jimmy Duquennoy	WB-Veranclassic	s.t.
16	Quentin Jauregui	Ag2r	s.t.
17	Timothy Stevens	Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice	s.t.
18	Jason van Dalen	Delta Cycling	s.t.
19	Maximiliano Richeze	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
20	Kevin Deltombe	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
21	Aidis Kruopis	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
22	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
23	Twan Castelijns	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
24	Berden de Vries	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
25	Gaëtan Pons	Leopard Pro Cycling	s.t.
26	Lionel Taminiaux	WB-Veranclassic	s.t.
27	Lennert Teugels	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
28	Thomas Gibbons	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
29	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r	s.t.
30	Luc Wirtgen	Leopard Pro Cycling	s.t.
31	Boris Vallée	Fortuneo-Oscaro	s.t.
32	Tom Dernies	WB-Veranclassic	s.t.
33	Michael Goolaerts	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
34	Jens Debusschere	Lotto-Soudal	+6''
35	Gianni Marchand	Cibel-Cebon	s.t.
36	Edward Planckaert	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	+8''
37	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	s.t.
38	Øivind Lukkedal	Team Coop	s.t.
39	Etienne van Empel	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
40	Timo Roosen	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
41	Thomas Deruette	WB-Veranclassic	s.t.
42	Coen Vermeltfoort	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
43	Andrea Pasqualon	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
44	Álvaro José Hodeg	Quick-Step Floors	+12''
45	Mikaël Chérel	Ag2r	+15''
46	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r	s.t.
47	Kenny Dehaes	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
48	Nicolas Vereecken	Roubaix-Lille Metropole	+17''
49	Bert Van Lerberghe	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	+19''
50	André Greipel	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
51	Maxime Farazijn	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	s.t.
52	Sven Reutter	Rad-Net Rose	s.t.
53	Theo Reinhardt	Rad-Net Rose	s.t.
54	Jérémy Leveau	Roubaix-Lille Metropole	+23''
55	Carmelo Foti	Leopard Pro Cycling	s.t.
56	Patrick Müller	BMC Racing	s.t.
57	Alexander Geuens	Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice	s.t.
58	Julien Antomarchi	Roubaix-Lille Metropole	s.t.
59	Gustav Höög	Team Coop	s.t.
60	Robert Wagner	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
61	Julien Bérard	Ag2r	s.t.
62	Daan Meijers	Delta Cycling	s.t.
63	Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
64	Iljo Keisse	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
65	Jérémy Lecroq	Roubaix-Lille Metropole	+28''
66	Stijn Steels	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	+31''
67	Jan Brockhoff	Leopard Pro Cycling	+35''
68	Krister Hagen	Team Coop	+36''
69	Wesley Kreder	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
70	Dennis Coenen	Cibel-Cebon	s.t.
71	Andy Leigh	Tarteletto-Isorex	s.t.
72	Mark McNally	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
73	Marcel Sieberg	Lotto-Soudal	+40''
74	Frederik Veuchelen	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	+51''
75	Amund Grøndahl	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
76	Tom Devriendt	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	+55''
77	Fabio Sabatini	Quick-Step Floors	+56''
78	Nikolas Maes	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
79	John Mandrysch	Leopard Pro Cycling	+58''
80	Elias Van Breussegem	Veranda's Willems-Crelan	s.t.
81	Adriaan Janssen	LottoNL-Jumbo	+1' 03''
82	Alexey Vermeulen	LottoNL-Jumbo	+1' 05''
83	Nicolas Dougall	Dimension Data	+1' 09''
84	Julien Stassen	WB-Veranclassic	+1' 11''
85	Jempy Drücker	BMC Racing	s.t.
86	Florian Vachon	Fortuneo-Oscaro	+1' 16''
87	Daniel McLay	Fortuneo-Oscaro	s.t.
88	Thibault Guernalec	Fortuneo-Oscaro	s.t.
89	Jan-Willem van Schip	Delta Cycling	+1' 28''
90	Taco van der Hoorn	Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij	s.t.
91	Francisco Ventoso	BMC Racing	+1' 38''
92	Kevin Verwaest	Tarteletto-Isorex	+1' 41''
93	Moreno De Pauw	Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise	+1' 45''
94	Styn Debock	Cibel-Cebon	+1' 49''
95	Enzo Wouters	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
96	Bram Welten	BMC Racing	+2' 04''
97	Erwann Corbel	Fortuneo-Oscaro	+2' 08''
98	Alan Riou	Fortuneo-Oscaro	+2' 47''
99	Bernhard Eisel	Dimension Data	+2' 56''
100	Davide Martinelli	Quick-Step Floors	+3' 03''
101	Benoît Jarrier	Fortuneo-Oscaro	s.t.
102	Johann Van Zyl	Dimension Data	s.t.
103	Sjoerd Bax	Delta Cycling	s.t.
104	Lawrence Naesen	WB-Veranclassic	s.t.
105	Emiel Planckaert	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
106	David Boucher	Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice	s.t.
107	Domenic Weinstein	Rad-Net Rose	+4' 21''
108	Ryan Gibbons	Dimension Data	+5' 10''