Nokere, March 12, 2016

First-year junior Arne Marit from Vollezele won the first Nokere Koerse Danilith Classic for juniors this afternoon. After 89 kilometers, he won in a mass sprint on the flanks of Nokereberg, ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Nils Eekhoff from the Netherlands.

Ten riders, including top favorite Jarno Mobach, ride with a lead of about half a minute for a long time, ahead of the peloton. In the penultimate round, Mobach, a Dutchman who rides for the Spie-Douterloigne regional team, tries it alone. But he cannot withstand the oncoming peloton.

Arne Marit (Van den Hauwe CT – Gentse VS) has already achieved his second victory of the season. “Today we came to Nokere Koerse with ambition. On Wednesday we already trained on the course with the team and I had it in my head that this was a course for me. So we were at the start with 189 riders and with a lot of ambition! Beforehand I was thinking of a top 10 place. I felt good throughout the race and as my trainer said: save, save and save. I did this too. The group that had broken away from round 2 held out for a long time. The men from Balen kept the gap about the same and with 2 laps to go I went together with Jasper Philipsen and 3 others towards the head of the race. We didn’t make it and so I gambled on the sprint. I remember a dangerous approach towards the finish line. In the last straight line I was able to come out of Phillipsen’s wheel perfectly and take my first UCI race home!”: says a deliriously happy Arne.

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