The Belgian triple header of racing continued on Sunday afternoon at the Brussels Cycling Classic, where some three ascents of the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen awaited the peloton, before a “flatter” run to the finish line. Team Picnic PostNL headed into the race with the goal of sprinting with Pavel Bittner at the finish, but to be active and make sure to not miss out on any dangerous breakaways during the day.
Doing just that, the team held a good position for all of the key sectors and Tobias Lund Andresen followed into a strong chase group with around 70 kilometres to go. However, things then came back together with a leading trio out front, while Lund Andresen, Bittner, Sean Flynn and Nils Eekhoff represented the team in the reduced peloton. A strong chase caught the leading trio and the day would come down to a reduced fast finish.
After Eekhoff helped in the chase, Flynn then positioned the remaining Team Picnic PostNL duo; with Lund Andresen doing a great job to bring Bittner into the final straight. On the drag up to the line, Lund Andresen opened out the lead-out and Bittner could have a clear run to the finish. Giving his all to the line, Bittner took sixth on the day; making it yet another good top ten place for the team.
Bittner said: “We went into today’s race with me as a finisher in the sprint, so my goal was to save my energy as much as possible during the day; and the guys helped me with that. In and around the climbing part in the middle it was a strong pace but we did well as a team. Tobi, Sean and Nils did a really good active race at those points; with Tobi and Sean always there at the front and made sure nothing slipped away. We came into the final with four guys but I was a bit on the limit after the climbs. Nils helped in the chase, and then Tobi and Sean did a good job putting me into position for the sprint. I didn’t quite have the legs today to go around Merlier in the finale. I’m a bit disappointed with sixth after the ride the boys did, but I know that things will come in the next races and I’m really proud of how we rode today.”