Magnier and Tiller join forces in Hageland showdown, while Brennan and Visma suffer bad luck

"I was very stressed before the race," Magnier said in the flash interview after the race. "From the start, it was full throttle, with no breakaways. Towards the finish, I started to feel better. My teammates positioned me well for the important sections." Magnier was the only rider from Soudal Quick-Step to make it into the decisive breakaway group.

In the final sprint, the 21-year-old rider initially took the lead with Tiller and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). "It was a bit difficult with Alpecin's numerical advantage. But I had a good relationship with Rasmus. They had told me at the briefing that it was better to be offensive than defensive. Closing a ten-second gap on this course is not easy." In the end, Philipsen had to let go, but the duo at the front was joined by one of Philipsen's teammates.

That was Del Grosso, who managed to catch up. However, Magnier proved to be the strongest in the race, winning his second victory this month after the Heistse Pijl a week ago. "It's great to take the win. All my victories are beautiful, but this is definitely one of the hardest."

Text continues below.

Rasmus Tiller had to settle for second place. The winner of Dwars door het Hageland 2021 and 2023 couldn't keep up with Magnier's final sprint. "Of course, I wanted to win, but Magnier is a super talent. He was super strong in the final," said the big Norwegian in the flash interview.

The 28-year-old rider knew what he had to do in the race's final, with Alpecin-Deceuninck in the majority in the large leading group. "That was a difficult situation. We had to drop a lot of those guys to create a better situation for ourselves. Jasper (Philipsen, ed.) already said in the final that he was too tired, so Paul and I decided to go for it."

Ultimately, Tiller had to admit defeat to his French breakaway companion, who also left Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) behind. "He was too fast for me after the corner. I tried everything, but today he was just better," was Tiller's honest conclusion.

The leading group lacked riders from Visma | Lease a Bike. With Matthew Brennan, the Dutch team had one of, if not the favorite, for victory, but the yellow and black formation ultimately ended the race without a result. Brennan didn't even finish the race, with the talented rider suffering a lot of bad luck.

The young Brit, only 19 years old, crashed twice and suffered a flat tire. Meanwhile, a group of favorites, including winner Magnier and runner-up Tiller, managed to break away. Due to the aforementioned bad luck, Brennan could not show what he is capable of on the white roads of Flemish Brabant.

Brennan's teammates, Loe van Belle and Tosh van der Sande ended up in the chasing group. “It was a very hot day out there,” said Van Belle on the team website. "Cedric (Keppens), Tomos (Pattison), and Dan (McLay) did a great job early on, which allowed Matthew, Tosh, and me to be well positioned in the crucial early phases and race from the front. Tosh and I rode a solid race. It's a pity Tosh flatted while in a good position, and I also punctured shortly after. Without that, I might have been in contention for a top-ten finish. That’s a bit frustrating, but I’m still proud of how we raced today."