Gooikse Pijl 2025 Results | Oded Kogut sees off competition to claim big win for Israel - Premier Tech in Belgium

After the dramatic scenes of protest at the recent Vuelta a Espana, Israel - Premier Tech have some success to celebrate at Gooikse Pijl 2025, with Israeli sprinter Oded Kogut powering to the win in Belgium this Sunday afternoon. 

An early break animated proceedings, featuring Axel Kallberg (Lucky Sport), Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick-Step), Fabio Van den Bossche (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Bram Dissel (BEAT). The quartet built a gap of over a minute but were kept on a tight leash by the sprinters’ teams, with Jayco AlUla, Uno-X Mobility and Team Picnic PostNL among those ensuring the escape never gained too much ground. Dissel later tried to counter-attack, but by the time the laps ticked down the race was back together.

The tempo remained fierce, averaging above 47 km/h, and splits briefly appeared in the peloton, though the flat terrain ensured it all came back. Rain showers mid-race made conditions more nervous, and crashes and punctures — including unlucky moments for Joel Mellby (Lucky Sport) and Vincent Van Hemelen (Flanders-Baloise) — disrupted the rhythm.

With big-name sprinters such as Dylan Groenewegen, Jordi Meeus, Pascal Ackermann and Gerben Thijssen present, the outcome was always likely to follow the script of recent editions. The last six winners — from Danny van Poppel in 2020 through Tim Merlier in 2024 — had all been fast men, underlining how hard it was to escape the clutches of the lead-out trains in Gooik. The break weren't going down without a fight though, and with 10km to go, Gelders and Van den Bossche were still dangling around 20 seconds clear of the bunch.

When the attackers were caught at around 3.6km to go though, the expected sprint finale was a certainty. In that fight for the line it was then Israel - Premier Tech's Oded Kogut, who took a somewhat surprising victory ahead of his rivals.