Lozano & Planet Dig Deep at GP Jef Scherens

Race: GP Jef Scherens

Start/Finish: Leuven/Leuven, Belgium

Distance: 185.7 kilometers

Leuven, Belgium — On Sunday, Team Novo Nordisk tackled the 50^th edition of GP Jef Scherens, an 185.7-kilometer circuit race around Leuven.

The race featured 13 circuits and historically has played to the strengths of Classics riders. Throughout the course, the riders experienced torrential rains and bright sunshine. Six riders escaped early but by the final lap, the race came down to Dimitri Claeys (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Pim Ligthart (Lotto Soudal). The duo fought it out on the final lap with Claeys soloing to the win four seconds ahead of Ligthart. Team Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet and David Lozano came in with the main chase group, only eight seconds behind Claeys.

“Today had it all in a way that even surprised me,” Team Novo Nordisk’s David Lozano said. “There were super heavy rains, heat and even the course proved challenging. All day long, it went from wide roads down to one lane. This meant position was essential throughout the race. Charles and I fought together to get into the main chase and we did the best we could from there.”

Team Novo Nordisk resumes racing on Tuesday with the 190-km GP Stad Zottegem.

Gallery:

Results: 

• 1^st: Dimitri Claeys (Wanty-Groupe Gobert): 4:19:34
• 2^nd: Pim Ligthart (Lotton Soudal): 0:04 behind Claeys
• 3^rd: Roman Maikin (Gazprom-RusVelo) 0:08 behind Claeys

Team Novo Nordisk Results: 

• Charles Planet: 24^th: 0:08 behind Claeys
• David Lozano: 26^th: 0:08 behind Claeys
• Brian Kamstra: 83^rd: 10:12 behind Claeys
• Martijn Verschoor: 84^th: 10:12 behind Claeys
• Stephen Clancy: 91^st: 10:12 behind Claeys
• Gerd de Keijzer: DNF
• Rik van IJzendoorn: DNF
• Chris Williams: DNF

(Photos: @Gregg Germer)