Arnaud Demare takes victory from the breakaway at the Brussels Cycling Classic

Arnaud Demare has taken the win in a dramatic conclusion to the 103rd Brussels Cycling Classic.

The 207-kilometre race follows a very interesting profile which is a mix between a cobbled and a sprinters' classic. The riders will have a mostly flat day with tiny rises, but they go through the Muur de Geraardsbergen and Bosberg combination twice which will give plenty of opportunities for attacks.

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Four riders went clear early on in the breakaway including Paul Lapeira of the AG2R Citroen Team, who held the King of the Mountains jersey early on at the Giro d'Italia.

After they were caught by a counter-attack led by Biniam Girmay the lead group swelled to over 20 riders.

In the 23-man group up the road were a number of the pre-race favourites such as Girmay, Bryan Coquard, Arnaud Demare, Jordi Meeus and Derek Gee.

With Tim Merlier having missed out, much of the chasing was being done by Soudal - Quick-Step and the kept the gap at around 30 seconds.

At 10km to go that gap had extended to a minute, meaning the winner was likely coming from the leading group.

With 5km left however, that gap had been slashed to 35 seconds and the race was on.

Derek Gee made an attack with just over 2km to go but was unsuccessful. A counter-attack by Kelland O'Brien did get a gap however, leading into the final kilometre.

O'Brien was caught with a few hundred metres left and then in the final sprint in was Arnaud Demare who powered to victory.

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Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ

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ARNAUD DÉMARE 🙌 Une deuxième victoire sur la Brussels Classic 🏆

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