“I am satisfied with my race“, Breathe the runner who evolved almost at home (“I was seven kilometers from the house“). Last year, I made the mistake of going on an attack almost directly and then getting carried away, to force to try to keep our breakaway at the front. This time, I decided to remain calmer in the first part of the event. “
He had indeed passed far enough into the peloton at the first passage of the Côte du Herdal, the justice of the peace of the deep test. Before going up little by little and being attentive. “I let go at first”continues the one who now wears the Trust Up CC Chevigny training jersey. “I didn’t want to move before the 70 kilometers of race.”
From the milestone of the seventies crossed, he was forced to react to the sharp offensive of one of the favorites, Jarno Bellens (third last year in the final classification of the Tour de Namur). “I managed to catch him and we joined the breakaway of four runners”details Mattéo Melotte. “”We have collaborated in six. We were a minute and ten seconds apart, but it suddenly dropped, about thirty seconds. We then gave a coup in the Herdal coast and were only three at the front. “
The agreement remained good to avoid the return of the peloton. “I was unfortunately surprised, in the last kilometer, by Jarno Bellens, who attacked when I took a relay”adds Mattéo Melotte. “He had to be a little distance to get momentum because he went at full speed. I couldn’t go looking for it this time.”
The classification (166 runners): 1. Bellens Jarno; 2. Melotte Matteo; 3. The Maere Arne; 4. Van Breussegem Elias; 5. Dallemagne Léopold; 6. Rietjens Sander; 7. Devenijns Sander; 8. Lejeune Aurélien; 9. Ponsaerts Thibaut; 10. Jacques Lucas; 11. Thonnon Senne; 12. Verschuerre Wannes; 13. Janse Stef; 14. Segers Ryan; 15. Bleyenberg Jado; 16. Depuydt Daan; 17. Sluyts Ward; 18. Roggeman Sieben; 19. Dejonghe Len; 20. van den Meerssche Warre; 24. Bero Sean; 25. Dumortier Cyprien; 30. Baiwir Louis.
