This Saturday 5th of April, Dion Smith opened the victory count of 2025 for team Intermarché-Wanty by triumphing in the Volta NXT Limburg Classic.
The New Zealander won the hilly 190-kilometer classic, which featured no less than 25 climbs in Limburg, around Eijsden, close to the Belgian-Dutch border.
Intermarché-Wanty was attentive to the race movements in the final, sending first Alexander Kamp and then Smith in counter-attacks, until the latter joined the leading group with 20 kilometer to go
Maintaining a lead of about twenty seconds, the leading group of six riders managed to hold off the peloton until they sprinted for the victory. In the final cobbled straight, Smith dominated the sprint and offered the first victory of the season to Jean-François Bourlart’s team.
At 32 years old, Dion Smith celebrates his second victory as a professional and his first in the colors of the Walloon World Team. The exemplary teammate, appreciated by his leaders, raises his arms for the first time in five years since his success at the Coppa Sabatini.
“We lined up for this Volta NXT Classic with a strong team and I was offered the opportunity to race for a result myself, depending on how the race turned out. As we had good numbers in the peloton in the final, I didn’t hesitate to follow the attack of Frank van den Broek. In my course recon yesterday I learned there was a chance to stay away thanks to the tailwind. It was a perfect situation with the presence of our sprinter Arne Marit in the group behind me. I don’t know how I managed to stay calm in the final, knowing that my last victory in the Coppa Sabatini was five years ago already. The past couple of years I’ve grown into a support role, loosing the habits to manage this kind of situations. To be able to do it today makes me extremely happy. I’m also very happy to offer Intermarché-Wanty this victory, as we’re now progressively gaining strength after a rough start to the season with a lot of sickness and crashes. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better way to finish my first part of the season before my build up to the Giro d’Italia.”
