Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez) lived up to his pre-race favourite billing to take a solo victory at the Druivencross in Overijse, the first event of the Telenet Superprestige on Sunday.

The Belgian put in a massive acceleration on the penultimate lap, clocking the fastest lap time of 6:47 to pull away from a five-rider lead group. He had enough time to smile at his team in the pit and high-five fans before raising his arms in victory, for the second consecutive year.