For Tiesj Benoot, Sunday's win in the Clune Brussel Kuhln was more than the final move to end an underwhelming opening weekend for his Jumbo Visma, it was the culmination of a comeback from a serious injury that left him wondering if he could ever race again. It was the culmination of a comeback from an injury so severe that it was doubtful he would be able to race again.

Just under seven months ago, the Belgian all-rounder suffered a broken neck after being struck by a driver while training near Livigno in the Italian Alps.

Although not life-threatening, the crash had a serious impact on him, he said at a press conference following his victory in Cune. As part of the team that won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, he had already won the race when he returned to racing the day before.

"It's incredible to win on the second day of the race after a seven-month layoff," he said. 'A few months ago I doubted if I could be a cyclist anymore. Yesterday, I immediately felt my legs were good enough to win.

"I had that feeling in training, but it was nice to have it confirmed. For an athlete like me who doesn't win very often, this is something special."

On the final bend of the 193-km race, he took his fourth career win, his first since winning Paris-Nice three seasons ago.

The victory was the final blow of the day as his Jumbo Visma team launched a long attack on Le Bourriquet, 84 km from the finish, just as they did on Saturday. More attacks and splits followed, with Benoot and Van Hooydonk finishing ahead of Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché Circus Wanty), and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates).

"I knew I had to start the race early. 'The last 60km is pretty easy and there are some strong sprinters here, so I wanted to try something different. But for the second day in a row I was able to execute my ambitious plan perfectly.

"If Wellens attacked, I would react, if Mohoretz attacked, Nathan would react. Of course, we had planned to attack. With 3km to go, Nathan attacked, putting pressure on Mohoretz and Wellens. So I rolled up my arms and tried once. Maybe it wasn't my full effort, but it was a way to create a gap."

"Nathan went again just before the last corner, and I think that was instinctive. 'Right after the last corner I saw Wellens coming back. I saw Wellens coming back and I knew that if anyone closed the gap, their sprint would work." [Luckily, I was strong enough to stay in front and Nathan came in second. Again, brilliant

Benoot's win on Sunday followed new teammate Dylan van Baarle's victory in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, marking only the second time since 1984 that a single team had swept the opening weekend clean! It was the first time since 1984 that one team had won a clean sweep of the opening weekend. Only Quickstep had accomplished such a feat in 2019 since Eddie Plunkert and Jos Lammertink won the double for Panasonic.

Jumbo-Visma was simply a class above the rest of the peloton throughout the weekend, and while Benoot acknowledged that may be the case, he said the team had to keep an open mind.

"I'm not going to argue with that, but it's important that we remain critical about ourselves," he said. 'That's what I said at the beginning of training camp in December. Last year we were the fox hunting the rabbit, now we are the rabbit before the fox."