Ename Samyn Classic 2025

March 4, 2025 The Cobbled Classics continue today for Le Samyn, a 199KM race in Wallonie just on the French border. The race is known for it's local laps around Dour which includes the Côte des Nonettes and Côte de la Roquette as well as the rough Rue de Belle Vue cobbles which ends just two kilometers from the finish. At the sign-on, the sun was out, the air was warming, and the wind was light, all ingredients for a perfect Spring race. Sebastian Grindley of Lidl-Trek, Stijn Daemen of VolkerWessels, Gotzon Martín of Euskatel-Euskadi, Silas Köch of Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank, Quinten Veling of Diftar Continental, Loïc Vliegen of Wagner-Bazin WB, Hidde van Veenendaal of BEAT, and Joren Bloem of Unibet Tietema Rockets went in the early break and had 2 minutes 40 seconds with 100KM to go. There was no obvious chasing being done in the peloton but they were holding the gap simply by the momentum of maintaining position. The first fight for position came on the approach to the Côte de la Roquette for the second time with 76KM to go. With 67KM to go, Alpecin-Deceuninck took control and they hit the cobbled Côte des Nonettes at full speed. The bunch had not completely split but, over the top, a few Alpecin-Deceuninck riders sat up and left a gap to Mathieu van der Poel. He took off with 65.5KM to go and no one immediately followed. The group got organized and caught van der Poel one kilometer later but it kicked off the finale and sparked other attackers. The race was all together one kilometer after the finish line showed two laps and 58KM to go. A lull came over the bunch but it picked back up going into the cobbles of the Rue Chasse de La Motte in anticipation of hitting the Côte de la Roquette for the penultimate time. A group of 9 broke away over the top of the Côte de la Roquette and arrived at the Côte des Nonettes with a 14 second lead. The group included Taco van der Hoorn of Intermarché-Wanty, Samuel Gaze of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Lewis Bower of Groupama-FDJ, Martin Svrček of Soudal Quickstep, Cedric Beullens of Lotto, Thomas Gachignard of TotalEnergies, Axel Huens of Unibet Tietema Rockets, Noah Vandenbranden of Flanders-Baloise, and Killian Théot of Van Rysel Roubaix. Uno-X Mobility missed the move as did Arkéa-B&B Hotels. As the break got the bell for one final lap of the 29KM circuit, they had just under 30 seconds. The cohesion fell apart in the break and they were caught just after the Chasse de La Motte with 15.5KM to go. Soudal Quickstep took control and it started to look like we would be getting a bunch sprint, and with the number of riders still left in the bunch, it would be one of the largest groups coming to the finish in recent memory. The group stretched on the Côte des Nonettes with 7KM to go and when they got over the top, the bunch compressed again, allowing three riders to shoot off up the road including Timo Kielich of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Luca Van Boven of Intermarché-Wanty, and Alec Segaert of Lotto. They were shut down through the village of Élouges with 3.5KM to go as the group were fighting for the front to hit the Rue de Belle Vue first. No attacks went but Arkéa-B&B Hotels rode hard which trimmed the peloton to around 30 riders as they exited the cobbles going into 1KM to go. Unibet Tietema Rockets increased the pace for the lead out but they ran out of gas 500M from the line and the group slowed down. Six riders were across the road just waiting to sprint. Mathieu van der Poel went first with 175M to go and no one could respond to his sprint. He was several bike lengths ahead with 100M to go and had the time to sit up before the line for a salute as the voice of cycling, Daniel Mangeas, called him in. Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep took second, now twice in four days, with Emilien Jeannière of TotalEnergies behind in third.