Magnier outsprints Philipsen in Elfstedenronde; Schwarzbacher wins Giro Next Gen opening time trial

The Elfstedenronde is known as one of the flattest one-day races of the year. With only 375 meters of elevation gain in almost 200 kilometers, the Flemish race is a great opportunity for sprinters to win. In preparation for the Tour de France, many fast men were present at the start in Bruges: Jasper Philipsen, Milan Fretin, Paul Magnier (winner of Dwars door het Hageland on Saturday), and Alexander Kristoff were there, as was Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen.

It looked like it would be a sprint fest. Six early breakaway riders made the most of the long day: Dutchmen Timo de Jong (VolkerWessels) and Hidde van Veenendaal (BEAT) were joined by Belgians Baptiste Planckaert (Van Rystel Roubaix), Jordy Decottignies (Tarteletto-Isorex) and Maarten Verheyen (Baloise Glowi Lions). Frenchman Samuel Leroux (TotalEnergies) completed the leading group. Their biggest lead was three minutes, which decreased halfway through the race.

Jayco-AlUla and Soudal Quick-Step did most of the work. The leaders continued working together brilliantly, making it difficult for the sprinter teams. Decottignies could not keep up with the pace at the front, but it seemed like he was just shedding extra weight. The remaining riders suddenly managed to stabilize their small lead. With 11 kilometers to go, the gap was 16 seconds, but 5 kilometers later, it was back to 30 seconds. Was a surprise in the making?

The course favored the breakaway riders, as it was constantly twisting and turning. The narrow roads with all kinds of obstacles also caused several crashes, which did not necessarily help the chasers close the gap. But when the sprint trains really formed, things suddenly went fast. The five were caught with 2 kilometers to go.

In the final kilometer, it was a battle between Alpecin-Deceuninck (Philipsen) and Uno-X (Kristoff) for the front positions, but Lotto also made its presence felt with Elia Viviani. Philipsen was then boxed in but came out of nowhere. He seemed to be on his way to victory, but according to the jury, Magnier ultimately beat him by a tiny margin. Viviani finished third.

Several kilometers south of Bruges, the Giro Next Gen had started. The Tour of Italy for U23 riders began with an 8.4-kilometer time trial through Rho, a suburb west of Milan. The first rider to set a strong time was Albert Withen Philipsen, the top talent of Lidl-Trek. Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike) struggled with the time. The young Norwegian was only one second slower, but Matthias Schwarzbacher (UAE Gen Z) went 6 seconds under not much later.

Callum Thornley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) then came close, but Matisse Van Kerckhove came even closer. The Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike had to concede one second to the Slovakian. Defending champion Jarno Widar was the last starter. The Belgian from Lotto is not known as a super-strong time trialist and ultimately took 19 seconds longer than winner Schwarzbacher. He lost just over 10 seconds to his closest rival, Nordhagen.