Header Photo Credit: James Odvart / DirectVelo

The opening day of racing at Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux saw the peloton set off from Antoing to Mont Saint-Aubert. Faced with a rolling 131 kilometre long parcours and coupled with some pretty grizzly weather conditions in the opening parts, it was set to be a hard day out in the saddle.

Right from the flag drop the action was intense as riders and teams fought to try and make the day’s breakaway, as they battled through wind and rain. It became more a race of attrition as riders were jettisoned from the peloton as the pace slowly ramped up. As in previous races, Development Team DSM approached the day in an aggressive nature, always looking to make those important moves and after the bunch split into pieces in the wind, Lorenzo Milesi made it into a front group of around ten riders after some good work by the team.

Out front, the group worked well together and built up their advantage to over one minute and 30 seconds but there was always some form of chase in the bunch. As the race tackled the climb on the penultimate lap, the gap had fallen to just 40 seconds and two riders managed to bridge across to the front while others dropped, with birthday boy Moritz Kärsten riding well to make it into another chasing trio in between Milesi’s group and the now further thinned out peloton.

With the leading group approaching the lower slopes of the two kilometre ascent to the line, things became cagey as riders began to look at each other, as a steady tempo was set. Finding the perfect moment to attack, Milesi launched a stinging move in sight of the flamme rouge, immediately getting a gap over those behind him. Gritting his teeth and not looking back, Milesi gave everything he had until the finish line as those behind desperately tried to catch him. It was to no avail though, as Milesi just had enough left in the tank to hold on and take his first win for the team; the Development program’s third of the season.

Photo Credit: Patrick Brunt

“It was a super tough day out there with some hard weather conditions,” expressed a smiling Milesi at the finish. “The guys did a good job and in the end I managed to get into the break of around ten guys after 60 kilometres. We worked well together and could make it to the finish to go for the stage. I attacked in the last few kilometres as I wasn’t sure if I could follow the attacks of the other guys towards the end of the climb and it paid off. I’m just super happy to take the win for the team, it’s a great feeling. I’m looking forward to wearing the leader’s jersey tomorrow.”

Team DSM coach Boris Zimine added: “Today didn’t start off the best for us after Joost couldn’t start due to sickness so we began with only five riders, and then Max crashed early into the stage. As a team we wanted to race offensively as a group so of course that made it harder but the guys did a really good job anyway and stayed focused. We discussed this morning that we wanted to try something between the second cobbled section and the climb, and that is exactly where the breakaway went with Lorenzo, so we were really sharp and switched on for that. Then on the final climb Lorenzo rode really well and showed that he was the strongest rider in the breakaway and managed to get his first win in our jersey – which is great. I’m really proud of the job the guys did today and the teamwork they showed, so it is already a successful race for us, and we hope we can continue that on the weekend.”