Around noon the riders left for a race of 195 kilometres under a bright Belgian sun. A front group of six riders quickly formed and at sixty kilometres from the finish, Tiesj Benoot accelerated. With this attack, Benoot made sure there was a group of eighteen riders at the front of the race. In addition to Benoot, Nathan Van Hooydonck and Christophe Laporte were also present on behalf of Team Jumbo-Visma.

After the front group riders had stopped cooperating at twenty kilometres from the finish, Laporte decided to accelerate again. The Frenchman had two riders with him and their lead wavered between ten and twenty seconds. The gap was still ten seconds with only one kilometre to go, and a stunt seemed imminent, but at 150 metres from the line the sprinters came alongside.

For Laporte, it was an exciting first day in the yellow-and-black. "I was confident we could pull it off, but we knew the peloton wasn't far away. We gave everything and rode for the win. We kept fighting until the end, but in the last kilometre we lost some speed. It is what it is."

The Frenchman is feeling good at Team Jumbo-Visma. "I am happy to ride for this team. We won yesterday with Wout, and today we rode a strong race as well. I am part of a strong team, with which we can also apply different strategies." Laporte is already looking forward to his subsequent races. "I'm going to Paris-Nice next week to help the team and then I will focus on the classics."