Jon Dibben achieved Great Britain Cycling Team’s best ever finish at the under-23 Tour of Flanders with second place in Oudenaarde.
The Podium Programme rider, fresh from winning his maiden world title on the track in the points race in London last month, finished strongly in Belgium to reach the podium.
The 22-year-old, supported by teammates Gabz Cullaigh and Tao Geoghegan Hart, led a late charge over the closing kilometres, but was beaten to the win by Slovenia’s David Per.
Speaking to Direct Velo, Dibben said he felt he could have won the race: “I wanted to impose myself, to reward the team and its work. I didn’t come to finish second.
“I staked everything on a bunch sprint, but the break seemed solid. So I decided, three kilometres from the finish, to make the leap over the race leader. We got a few hundred metres from the line, but I did not have the legs to sprint for victory.”
Cullaigh and Geoghegan Hart both finished in the bunch to take 19th and 22nd respectively, with Ollie Wood, James Shaw and Chris Latham also finishing in the top 50.
Under-23 attention now turns to the Netherlands and the ZLM-Roompot Tour on 15 and 16 April.
Meanwhile, Joe Nally lead the British finishers over the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix Juniors.
The young Scot followed up on his 17th place at Gent-Wevelgem to finish 11th, 33 seconds behind race winner Jarno Mobach of the Netherlands.
Rider Route
Gaining experience of international racing is a key component of the Rider Route for junior and senior academy road riders.
Rider Route is British Cycling’s performance pathway, helping the most promising riders become the stars of world and Olympic cycling.
