Benoît Cosnefroy beats Dylan Teuns and Tim Wellens at the end of thrilling Brabantse Pijl

The cobbled classics were this year not as open as it is usually the case, but the Brabtantse Pijl without any of the major stars delivered thrilling and dramatic action. Lots of attacks but in the end a sprint between classics specialists; Benoît Cosnefroy revalidated Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's title by taking the win.

The race began with a strong breakaway of eight riders including Tomas Kopecký, Anders Johannessen, Jens Reynders, Nicolas Debeaumarché, Alan Riou, James Whelan, Jordi Warlop and Lorrenzo Manzin. A diverse group with several types of riders and strong teams featured.

In the explosive and short climbs the peloton began to see attacks with 50 kilometers to go with the tireless António Morgado opening things up. The likes of Axel Laurance, Benoît Cosnefroy and Stephen Williams attacked from the peloton and into the front group as the gaps were quite small, but eventually the ever-changing group was caught with 37 kilometers to go.

In the penultimate ascent of the Mosskesstraat Dylan Teuns, Tim Wellens and Marijn van den Berg attacked from the peloton and got a gap through the rest. It was hovering around 20 seconds, everytime being cut in the climbs as attacks looked to bridge across, being reduced and then stabilizing in the flat sections where there was some organization.

The group as looking extremely dangerous but in the final two ascents Quinten Hermans and Benoît Cosnefroy respectively attacked and bridged across to the front group. The pace slowed and so Joseph Blackmore and Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda also made their way into the front group.

The group collaborated well but with 3 kilometers to go some riders began to try and hide themselves a bit more. Marijn van den Berg hit the front then and got a gap, the Dutchman kept pushing the pace and looked set for victory but the work of Blackmore - one of the two Israel - Premier Tech riders - brought him back with 500 meters to go.

The sprint was launched and Benoît Cosnefroy was the fastest in the final sprint, beating Dylan Teuns and Tim Wellens to finally take the win in a classic where he's performed very well in the past.