Danny Van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the 71st edition of Halle-Ingooigem in Belgium on Tuesday in a reduced-bunch sprint ahead of Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Floors) and Sean De Bie (Veranda`s Willems Crelan). The 24-year-old Dutchman notched his second win of the year after taking out a stage in Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in January. `Finally, I`ve been able to win again,` Van Poppel said. `I´m really pleased about it. In the last few weeks, I´ve been very close a few times, especially at the Giro d`Italia, so you can imagine how happy I am with this victory.` Van Poppel and teammate Maarten Wynants bridged to a large leading group on the final lap of the race. Wynants then held the group together so that Van Poppel could launch his sprint.ADVERTISEMENT `It was really close between Jakobsen and me, but winning is winning,` he said. `I was perfectly placed, and wanted to start my sprint earlier than Jakobsen did. I lost quite a bit of speed at the end, but luckily it was enough for the win. Maarten did a lot of work for me, and we managed to bridge across to the leading group. He ensured that it stayed together and that I could sprint. This gives me a lot of confidence for the coming weeks.` Runner-up Jakobsen was disappointed not to win, but happy with how his Quick-Step teammates had ridden, and was already looking ahead to his next goal. `I felt good, and the entire team did a great job,` the Dutchman said in a team press release. `Dries Devenyns, who`s been out for three months, chased the escapees hard. Pieter Serry took over on the circuit - which was really demanding - while the other guys tried to be in the various moves and protect me throughout the day. Michael [Mørkøv] provided a good lead-out, but I jumped a second too late from the field and that was that.
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