Paul Magnier wins Dwars door het Hageland and outsmarts Alpecin-Deceuninck, Del Grosso third in gravel race

There are not many races like Dwars door het Hageland. The Belgian one-day race is known for its unpaved roads, which means that crossers and classics specialists have an advantage in Diest. This is evident from the list of winners: Gianni Vermeersch was the best last year, while Rasmus Tiller also won twice. This year, the big story at the start was Jasper Philipsen's return to racing. The Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck was riding his first race since Eschborn-Frankfurt in early May.

After just 30 kilometers, the first unpaved sections loomed, which meant the peloton could prepare for 150 kilometers of extremely nervous racing. Immediately, several crashes occurred, and the various breakaways (including Jelle Johannink of Unibet Tietema Rockets) were neutralized. With 100 kilometers to go, the last riders were caught, after which the peloton split.

That was also neutralized, but later, a nice lead group emerged. These were no ordinary riders: Alpecin-Deceuninck had four men in the group, Quinten Hermans, Tibor Del Grosso, Timo Kielich, and Jasper Philipsen. The main competitor was Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step). There were two other Dutch riders in the group of 13: Mike Teunissen (XDS-Astana) and the impressive cyclocross rider David Haverdings (Baloise Glowi Lions) were there, and later Jelte Krijnsen (Jayco-AlUla) also made the crossing.

Two-time winner Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility) was also there. Visma | Lease a Bike was not present. They had one of the big favorites with Matthew Brennan, but the young Brit had crashed just before the split and was riding well behind. Picnic PostNL and Lotto had no riders in the breakaway, so the peloton continued to set a fast pace.

At the start of the last two laps, we lost three men from the lead group: Hugo Hofstetter (Israel-Premier Tech) couldn't keep up with the pace on the Citadel of Diest after he had joined Krijnsen. After the descent, the latter had bad luck: Krijnsen had a flat tire, as did Alexis Renard (Cofidis). The peloton also thinned out considerably after the finish line, reducing the gap to just 40 seconds.

With 30 kilometers to go, the peloton broke apart, which was favorable for the leaders. They stayed together and, entering the final lap, saw that they had a good twenty-second lead over a small group of pursuers, including Dutchman Huub Artz (Intermarché-Wanty) and Belgians Jens Reynders (Wagner Bazin WB) and Milan Menten (Lotto).

With three riders in the final lap, Kielich had to drop back, leaving it up to the Alpecin-Deceuninck team to take the lead. When turning onto a gravel section, Haverdings crashed in a corner, causing chaos at the front of the race. The young Dutchman managed to get back on his bike and had to get back to work almost immediately. Three riders managed to break away: Tiller, Philipsen, and Magnier. Philipsen did not join them, with Del Grosso and Hermans in the chasing group.

That was the cue for Magnier to make his move. The Frenchman attacked on a sloping section, with Tiller and Philipsen initially hesitating. However, Tiller got going and reunited the trio. The situation remained unchanged as they turned onto the local ‘Poggio,’ just five kilometers from the finish. The chasers were only seven seconds behind. Teunissen pushed on in the chase, with Del Grosso and Hermans on his wheel. Philipsen could not follow Magnier and Tiller and was overtaken by the three in pursuit. Del Grosso and Hermans proved to be the two strongest chasers, with Hermans sacrificing himself and making way for the young Dutch talent. He caught up with Tiller and Magnier two and a half kilometers from the finish line.

A kilometer later, Hermans rejoined the trio at the front, who had started the final cobbled climb. Magnier was the first to accelerate, but Tiller and Del Grosso were able to keep up somewhat. Magnier's acceleration proved too much for the others, and he could not hold on. Behind Magnier, Tiller finished second, just ahead of Del Grosso.