2021 109Th SCHELDEPRIJS
109th SCHELDEPRIJS 2021 April 7 JASPER PHILIPSEN, FIRST BELGIUM WINNER, 15 YEARS AFTER TOM BOONEN Again a Scheldeprijs in the spring, after the October edition of 2020. Still, it took quite some effort before the 109th edition could take-off in Terneuzen. The official go-ahead for the race was not given until a few hours before due to the harsh weather conditions with strong winds and isolated snow showers combined with the still lingering ghost of Corona. It was also the Corona virus that already eliminated some of the teams even before the race was started. The teams of Trek Segafredo with ex-world champion Mads Pedersen and Groupana-FDJ with French champion Arnaud Demare, were not allowed to start. Still 149 riders, among them several top sprinters, left Terneuzen at 12:45 pm. As expected, immediately after the start, the peloton split into several echelons. Pushed by a tail wind the riders competed 50km in the first hour. A first echelon with 14 riders was formed by Bennett, Philipsen, Van Moer, Ackermann, Scwarzmann, Burghardt, Politt, Morkov, Danny van Poppel, Vahtra, Nizzolo, Walscheid, Rickaert and Russ. A second group, 40 seconds behind (” (Kristoff, Merlier, Bol, Cavendish, Sénéchal, De Bondt, Dewulf, Selig, Van Lerberghe, Koch, Mozzato, Siskevicius, Van Gestel, Van Schip, Bugter, Havik),and the peloton at 1’45”. After a long battle the first two groups merged and the right train had left the station, the peloton wouldn’t see them again. When approaching Schoten Tim Merlier missed a curve and took Alexander Kristoff along in his fall, both had to suspend the race.
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