Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2021 - Davide Ballerini cruises to victory in Spring Classic opener
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ByEurosport
Updated 27/02/2021 at 19:22 GMT
The first Spring classic - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - concluded with a relatively routine finish for Italian rider Davide Ballerini who was unchallenged in the bunch sprint. Omloop is live on Eurosport, watch live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and eurosport.co.uk
Davide Ballerini takes victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as Deceuninck–Quick-Step dominate
Davide Ballerini had little difficulty in winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as he went through the final bunch sprint unchallenged.
Britain's Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) takes second with Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation) coming third.
The cobbled classic ended with a 30-man sprint, but Ballerini was surprisingly streaks ahead and finished in top spot.
"It's a dream come true," an emotional Ballerini said post-race.
"This is the start of the really big classics. I love it and I love this team. It was my dream since I was a baby when I saw my first race on TV. We are here.
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'Cheeky!' - Riders take sneaky shortcut during Omloop
"I win so I'm really happy for the team. I don't have words for the team but I know it's not easy for everybody with Covid.
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Highlights: Davide Ballerini powers away to take men's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
"I say congrats to the organisation for this race and keep going like this."
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r Citroen), Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) all broke early, but as they approached the climb of the Muur everyone came together again.
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