Remco Evenepoel tackles first race as world champion

Remco Evenepoel showed off his new rainbow jersey at the 35th Binche-Chimay-Binche/Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke, a 1.1-rated contest in Belgium on Tuesday. The current Vuelta a España and Liège-Bastogne-Liège champion was lively in the latter half of the 198.6 km contest, but took his leave of the peloton in the penultimate lap. The top Canadian was national champion Pier-André Coté in 22nd.

The riders had a couple of big circuits to race before five laps of a 16 km loop, each with a climb. There was a rise to the line in Binche.

The Canadian contingent was half Israel-Premier Tech–Guillaume Boivin, Derek Gee and Riley Pickrell–and half Human Powered Health–Adam De Vos, Pier-André Coté and Nickolas Zukowsky.

De Vos was in an early breakaway.

Once de Vos’s escape was brought back, Evenepoel made a couple of surges.

With 26 km remaining, the jersey having been paraded, the Vuelta a España champion Evenepoel dropped away.

Tony Gallopin was the sole escapee when he heard the bell just ahead of the peloton. A chase linked up Gallopin and with 5 km to race, it looked like the winner would come from the group containing Gallopin, Christophe Laporte and Philippe Gilbert. Laporte surged away with Uno-X’s Rasmus Tiller.

Laporte dumped his Norwegian breakmate on the cobbles in the final kilometre to take his fifth victory of the season. It was Gilbert’s last race on Belgian soil; he came sixth.

Evenepoel finished a few minutes later with compatriot and teammate Iljo Keisse.

2022 Binche-Chimay-Binche/Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke
1) Christophe Laporte (France/Jumbo-Visma) 4:26:16
2) Rasmus Tiller (Norway/Uno-X) +0:03
3) Hugo Page (France/Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) +0:08
22) Pier-André Coté (Canada/Human Powered Health) +0:16
37) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
43) Nickolas Zukowsky (Canada/Human Powered Health) s.t.