15th win of the season for Jasper Philipsen at Friesland Elfstedenrace as he outsprints Olav Kooij

Jasper Philipsen has taken win number 15 this afternoon at the Friesland Elfstedenrace, being the strongest sprinter at the end of a race blown apart by crosswinds. 

The pan-flat Dutch race didn't present challenges in the form of climbs, however that was not the case with the weather. The strong winds marked the race in it's totality, and crosswinds were very much present as the exposed roads didn't provide much coverage.

Read also

Official! Mark Cavendish postpones retirement: "Just one more year hey!"

A group of 13 riders set off in this very situation, there were echelons which included 13 riders in the front group, including 3 Jumbo-Visma riders (Olav Kooij, Lars Boven and Edoardo Affini) and 3 Alpecin-Deceuninck riders (Jasper Philipsen, Lionel Taminiaux and Fabio van den Bossche). A few other riders made their presence felt in the group, but the main favourites were here.

The pace in the peloton was extremely high and the gap was always small, but with good collaboration the front group managed to hold on to their slim gap and fight for the win between themselves. The sprinters behind would have to settle for minor places as the chase didn't have enough firepower.

Hartthijs de Vries attacked in the final kilometer trying to surprise, but Jumbo-Visma hit the front and chased him down, leading out Olav Kooij. However, the Dutchman let out his sprint very early, Jasper Philipsen managed to follow his wheel for a few seconds and then the Belgian rode to his 15th win of the season. Davide Bomboi of TDT-Unibet finished third.