Binche - Chimay - Binche / Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke 2024

October 1, 2024 A stacked field of fast men lined up for nearly 200KM and a finishing circuit around Binche consisting of some cobbles and potential cross winds. Rindert Buiter of VolkerWessels, Michiel Coppens of Cofidis, Adrien Maire of TDT-Unibet, Michael Schwarzmann of Israel-Premier Tech, Iker Mintegi of Euskaltel-Euskadi, and Stijn Appel of BEAT Cycling Club got up the road and had 3 minutes 30 seconds with 90KM to go. The break went through the finish line for the first of four circuits with a reduced gap of 1 minute 45 seconds with 65KM to go. The race kicked off in the peloton with 63KM to go as teams without top sprinters needed to get away. Lotto-Dstny drilled it in the cross-tail wind with 54KM to go and strung the bunch out but it was not enough to cause a split. However, it did bring the break back as they hit the 3 laps and 48KM to go. Dries De Bondt of Decathlon AG2R was aggressive and found a gap off the front but he was alone and being controlled by Intermarché-Wanty as they went through 2 laps to go. De Bondt was joined briefly by Edward Theuns of Lidl-Trek, Luke Lamperti of Soudal Quickstep, and Filippo Baroncini of UAE but the group was brought back with 30KM to go. Alessandro Covi of UAE was next to go and went through the bell lap with a 15 second lead on the peloton. Andreas Stokbro of TDT-Unibet bridged to Covi with 13KM to go, then Magnus Cort of Uno-X Mobility made his way to the front 2KM later. A bunch sprint looked likely however given the number of pure sprinters still in the bunch and the trio was caught as sprint trains started their formation with 9KM to go. The finale was demanding and only the leaders were left with 700M to go. Danny van Poppel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe took a flyer with 750M to go but Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck was straight on the wheel. Van Poppel ran out of steam after 350M, leaving Philipsen to take things up himself. He initially got a gap and had no choice but to continue. He hit the cobbles with 200M to go but Arnaud De Lie of Lotto-Dstny came romping passed Philipsen to take the victory. Biniam Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty was next in second with Milan Fretin of Cofidis in third, Philipsen faded to fourth.