Duo held up by late Nokere Koerse crash

Chris Lawless and Kristoffer Halvorsen narrowly avoided a final-kilometre pile-up at Nokere Koerse.

 

The Team Sky pair were moving into position ahead of the final sprint up the Nokereberg before a late crash blocked the road. Lawless was just able to stay in his bike despite contact but was unable to contest the sprint after pulling his foot out of the pedal. Halvorsen stopped just short of the carnage on a difficult day in Belgium.

 

Lawless had ridden well towards the front of the race on the penultimate lap and linked up with Halvorsen in the closing stages. The leadout effort was without Owain Doull after the Welshman also went down in a crash ahead of the final 50km. Doull was unable to finish the race but was okay despite losing some skin.

 

Christian Knees and Pavel Sivakov did a good job helping the team navigate an at times nervous peloton. At the finish it was Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) who prevailed in a reduced bunch kick.