The 79th edition of Danilith Nokere Koerse had a dramatic conclusion. Top favourite Jasper Philipsen seemed on his way to his first victory in our sprint classic, but crashed in the final kilometre. The Dutchman Nils Eekhoff (Picnic PostNL) took full advantage and sprinted to his first professional one-day race victory.
The race gained a more active character due to the new finale and the additional cobblestone sections. Jasper Philipsen and Florian Vermeersch constantly made the peloton nervous with sharp attacks on the cobblestone sections, but a decisive breakaway did not materialise. Arnaud De Lie also attempted to attack but could not maintain the pace on the cobblestones.
Ultimately, everything again came down to a sprint, albeit on the challenging Waregemsestraat instead of the classic Nokereberg. That sprint was overshadowed by a crash: Arne Marit was the first to go down, Jasper Philipsen could not avoid him and ended up in the ambulance with scrapes and bruises.
In the chaos, Eekhoff kept a cool head. He started from far back, sensed that his competitors were exhausted, and held his own against Matteo Moschetti and Luke Lamperti. Milan Fretin finished fourth and was the best Belgian.
Jelle Johannink (Unibet Tietema Rockets) won the Caps Mountain Prize.
