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WAREGEM, Belgium (AP) — Belgium's Yves Lampaert won the Across Flanders race for the second straight year after surging from the leading group in the final kilometer of the Flemish cobbled race on Wednesday.
In difficult weather conditions, Lampaert attacked with 800 meters to go on a road made slippery by rain and pulled away from a group of five riders including Edvald Boasson Hagen and Sep Vanmarcke.
Lampaert's rivals were slow to react and when they launched the chase it was already too late.
The Belgian rider, a former black belt judoka who took up cycling at the age of 17, posted his first win of the season ahead of Mike Teunissen of the Netherlands. Vanmarcke completed the podium of the UCI World Tour event. Boasson Hagen beat Mads Pedersen for fourth place.
The quintet had ridden away from a group of breakaway riders with a bit more than 20 kilometers left.
Lampaert, who secured a 20th win this year for his Quick-Step team, joined a group of 12 riders who have won the race twice, including former classics specialist Johan Museeuw of Belgium. He is the only rider to have won the race two years in a row.
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