Grote prijs Jean - Pierre Monseré 2025

March 9, 2025 The Grote prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré is named in memory of the 1970 World Road Race Champion who passed away during a race in 1971. The riders complete three full large laps with the Hoogledeberg and Gitsberg climbs on each lap before entering a smaller circuit for one lap through the streets of Roeselare. A bit of warm weather settled into West Flanders with next to no wind so the race was queued up for a likely bunch sprint. Seven riders were in the break including Victor Vercouillie of Flanders-Baloise, Alexys Brunel of TotalEnergies, Federico Biagini of VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, Leo Doyle and Bogdan Zabelinskiy of Atom 6 Bikes-Decca, Michiel Coppens of BEAT Cycling, and Michiel van Vliet of Metec-SOLARWATT-Mantel. They had a maximum of 5 minutes but that was down to 1 minute 40 seconds with 35KM to go. Cofidis and Q36.5 were doing the chasing and had the break to under 1 minute with 23KM to go. Brunel looked strong and was really pressing on in the break which cut the group down to Vercouillie and Coppens with 20KM to go. A crash in the peloton slowed things down a bit and, as the three remaining riders in the break got into the twisting circuit through Roeselare, their lead was extended to 1 minute 15 seconds. Intermarché-Wanty started riding but the gap was not moving as they went under 10KM to go. Brunel attacked Vercouillie and Coppens over a railway bridge with 6.5KM to go and immediately got away. He had just on 1 minute as the peloton went into full panic. The chasing looked desperate and they were forced to do full lead out speed just to try to bring some seconds back. Brunel kept his effort high and maintained 30 seconds at 1KM to go which was more than enough to hold on for an incredible solo victory. Vercouillie and Coppens were caught right on the line. Coppens grabbed a third place, just getting beaten by Stian Fredheim of Uno-X Mobility. Hugo Hofstetter of Israel-Premier Tech and Milan Fretin of Cofidis finished fourth and fifth, pushing a disappointed Vercouillie down to sixth.