Quick-Step Alphavinil was unable to get away with the 16-man echelon attack that the Belgian team launched early in the race, as not a single man was able to participate in the attack.

Fabio Jacobsen was looking for Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl's third win in the so-called Sprinters' Classic, but he finished 15th, 3:32 behind Alexander Kristoff. The Intermarche Wanty-Gobert team had a much better spring than its rivals, winning in Ghent-Wevelgem as well, thanks to Biniam Girmay.

The team has been hit by illness and injury, but after struggling in the Tour of Flanders, they were hoping to turn their spring around in Scheldeprij. Team management is hoping that Julien Alaphilippe and Remco Evenpole will be successful at La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Echelon never lies," Wilfried Peeters, directeur sportif of QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, admitted to Het Nieuwsblad.

"Everyone knew it would happen, but we weren't there. That's not a good thing. I was at the wheel all day frustrated."

After missing the echelon attack, Zdenek Stejbal, Jannik Steimle, Stein Steels, and Michael Morkov tried to lead the chase. Lot Soudal used Rudiger Selig to attack, but did not use sprinter Arnaud de Lier, which helped the chase but not enough.

They closed the gap to 25 seconds, but Bora-Hansgrohe made sure that his rivals did not close the gap by having four riders join the attack and others join the attack.

Jacobsen was apparently taking off his rain jacket when the attack occurred.

"I was named finisher. I didn't want to risk hitting someone's derailleur early in the race," Jacobsen said of his echelon on the exposed roads of Zeeland.

"Usually, if you have enough teammates in the second group, you can come back. But it was unfortunate that Groenewegen fell off the bike. Otherwise, Team Bike Exchange would have been able to close the gap by 30 seconds.

"With one extra rider, it would have worked," claimed Stein Störs.

"With five riders we got as close as 25 seconds, but that's where we got stuck.

Pieters revealed the team's weaknesses, but hoped that their luck would change as they moved east of the Ardennes and the terrain changed. Alaphilippe and Evenpoel seemed to be getting better in Ituria Basque.

"We didn't get to pick the team we had in mind for the classic race in Flanders. Stijmle had never raced the Tour de Flanders." Zdenek was usually rested for the Scheldeprijs, but he had to race anyway.

"We had to change our selection of riders several times. Hopefully we will be spared from that misfortune in the Ardennes Classic."