Harry Tanfield survived a ‘sketchy’ final 500m to finish 12th in a fiercely-contested pro kermesse in Vilvoorde, Belgium.
The 22-year-old, from Great Ayton, had to dig deep to bridge across to a 26-man breakaway in the 163km contest in the Flemish Brabant region.
The group contained Steven Lammertink, from Dutch World Tour outfit Team LottoNL-Jumbo, and Wanty-Groupe Gobert duo Xandro Meurisse and Wes Kreder.
Meurisse was second to Greg van Avermaet in the Tour de Luxembourg and has finished top 10 on general classification in the Tour of Britain in both 2015 and 2016.
However, none of them got involved in the final shake-up, finishing behind Tanfield as former world omnium champion Michael Freiberg, of Aussie team Isowhey Sports, took the win.
He beat Cofidis rider Michaël van Staeyen into second, with American Tom Gibbons, of Baguet-MIBA, third after a brutal final sprint for the line.
“There were loads of breaks coming and going in the first hour but nothing stuck. Then a massive group got away. I made a huge effort to bridge it solo and was the last man over.
“It wasn’t too bad until the final 500m which was sketchy. I was on the pavement at one point and I was glad I didn’t get down with 300m to go.
“I probably should have rolled the dice earlier. But it was a headwind for the last kilometre and the four guys who did try it got well caught.”
Tanfield was third behind Lawrence Naesen and Jelle Wallays on his pro kermesse debut in the 62nd Sint-Elooisprijs in Ruddervoorde last month.
He is expected to return to action in the UK with the Stockton Town Centre Race, part of the National Circuit Series, on Friday night and Stockton Grand Prix on Sunday.
