On paper, the Lotto Soudal team had a very strong line-up for the 72nd edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday. Jens Debusschere, Tiesj Benoot, Jasper De Buyst, Tony Gallopin, Marcel Sieberg, Nikolas Maes, Jurgen Roelandts and Jelle Wallays - nearly all of the riders on the team seemed potential contenders for the 203km long spring one-day. Nevertheless, Wallays was the only man in the decisive breakaway move, and he wasn`t able to follow the last four-man move on the Paterberg at 30 kilometres from the finish. In two days, the team will want to perform better at the E3 Harelbeke. On the second and third climb of the race on Wednesday, Lotto Soudal was active with moves from De Buyst and Wallays, but nothing came of their aggression. On the fourth climb of the day, the Berendries, Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) attacked and got into a move with 21 riders. Wallays was the lone Lotto Soudal rider in the escape, and he was dropped two climbs later.ADVERTISEMENT `Nobody expected the race would start there,` Benoot said. `It`s narrow there and I was not really that far back when I heard those guys were going. What surprised me the most was that some teams, who were without men up front, didn`t work like Cannondale and Trek. They didn`t go flat out until the Eikenberg. `We had Jelle Wallays up front and he didn`t have to work. On the Paterberg he was boxed in, I heard.` Four of the riders in the breakaway group survived all the scrimmages and battled for the victory. A small peloton sprinted for fifth place and it was Tiesj Benoot who finished third in this sprint.
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