Adam Blythe (OmegaPharma-Lotto) won the Sluitingsprijs Putte-Kapellen as the 183km race finished in a bunch sprint. The British rider, who recently turned 21, managed to hold on to the form that saw him win two stages and the overall classification of the Circuit Franco-Belge nine days ago. He beat Belgian Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) and Stefan van Dijk (Verandas Willems) in the race whose name literally means the “closing race” as it is the final contest of the road season.
“I took two stages and the overall win at the Circuit Franco-Belge earlier this month,” Blythe said to Het Laatste Nieuws. “Today is the fourth time I’ve been on the top step of the podium; maybe the season should last a little longer for me!
“No, seriously,” he added, “enough is enough. This victory is a nice end to a successful season.”
Run over eleven laps of a 6.7km circuit, the race was dominated by a breakaway group of five riders, consisting of: Nick Nuyens (Rabobank), Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil), David Boucher (Landbouwkrediet) and Mitchell Docker (Skil-Shimano).
They were originally joined by Rob Goris (Palmans-Cras), but he was disqualified by the race judges for trying to rejoin the leaders in an illegal manner after a mechanical problem.
The quintet was never able to get more than 3 minutes clear and with the peloton closing in with two laps to go De Gendt tried to get away alone. As the Belgian crossed the line with one lap to go he still led by 40 seconds, but he was soon enveloped by the peloton and the race finished in a sprint.
Result Sluitingsprijs Putte-Kapellen
1. Adam Blythe (GBr) OmegaPharma-Lotto
2. Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
3. Stefan van Dijk (Ned) Verandas Willems
4. Wim Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram
5. Jempy Drucker (Lux) Continental Team Differdange
6. Kenny Dehaes (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
7. Timothy Dupont (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen-Bauknecht
8. Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
9. Yoeri Havik (Ned) Van Vliet-EBH-Elshof
10. Egidijus Juodvalkis (Ltu) Palmans-Cras