British rider Scott Thwaites finished third in the 70th Nokere Koerse in Belgium.
The Nokere Koerse is a UCI 1.1 category race, since 2005, which is run from Deinze to Nokere.
This 197.7km race only got going after seventy kilometres when a five man break in Boucher, Rickaert, Backaert, Bouvry and Vermote formed and got 1:45 clear.
Thirty kilometres later and the gap had gone out to 4.04 but on a cloudy windy day in the Flanders region, the peloton started to brng them back.
They were caught with fifty kilometres to go and Lotto Soudal and Cult Energy did plenty of work to set up a bunch sprint which saw Kris Boeckmans of Lotto Soudal take the win with Frenchman Justin Jules (Veranclassic-Ekoi), followed by British rider Scott Thwaites of Bora-Argon 18 and his team mate Phil Bauhaus.
“That’s a great result for Scott, Phil and the entire team," said Andre Schulze, Sport Director of BORA – ARGON 18.
"The race was fast but controlled and so it became clear that we’d see a bunch sprint. We focused completely on the sprint and we didn’t want to waste any energy in attacks.
"Our tactic was to lead-out the sprint for Scott because this kind of finish -slightly uphill and with cobblestones- suits him. Phil’s duty was to backup Scott’s rear wheel and to look for his own chance when possible.
"That turned out perfectly and the guys presented their selves excellent on the final kilometers. With thousand meters to go I knew already that we’ll score a top result today because the guys rode so strongly."