Vlad Van Mechelen sprints to 5th after committed Development Team DSM performance at Brussel Opwijk

Team DSM’s Development program got their racing calendar underway today, teaming up with two riders from Dutch Food Valley Cycling Team for the tough Brussel Opwijk classic; the first race in the U23 Road Series.

It was an active start to proceedings with lots of attacks before a breakaway established itself, building up a good lead. Having no-one in the move, the team helped to contribute to the pace setting over the cobbles and climbs, working hard together as a unit to try and bring things back. Coming into the closing 25 kilometres the gap stood at around 30 seconds but it stayed like that for a while, before more counter attacks out front broke up the group and the catch would eventually be made at three kilometres to go. With all of the work they had done earlier, the team tried their best to position Vlad Van Mechelen for the finish, with road captain Pat Eddy acting as last man. However, some teams with numbers swamped them somewhat and Van Mechelen had to surf the wheels a little before producing a strong sprint to take fifth place and move into the lead of the best young rider classification.

Road captain Eddy said: “It was a very hectic race right from the start with lots of fighting for position into the 12 cobbled sections. After a break went up the road early we contributed heavily to the chase as a team which ultimately cost us in the final with just myself and Vlad left right up there at the front in the last few kilometres. I did my best to bring Vlad into the last corner but we got a bit swarmed by the teams with big numbers left. Vlad did well to sprint for a top five and now leads the young rider classification so we can be happy with that, and we have some things to build on for next time.”

Team DSM coach Bennie Lambregts added: “I think our first race in combination with Dutch Food Valley went well. We didn’t have complete control of the race early on but in the final we really chased back the break and the guys fully committed. Unfortunately, that meant we missed a few guys to then help set up our finisher Vlad, who was really strong in the race, to bring him into a good sprint position. Vlad did well to get fifth and I think the teamwork from the guys today was good from. It’s just in races like this people see our “Team DSM” jersey and a lot of the pressure is on for us to take responsibility and we did just that, but in the end its what cost us a little in the final.”