In the long run, Visma-Lease a Bike’s day at E3 Saxo Traditional was summed up not by something that occurred within the race itself, however by an incident past the end line.
Driving again to the workforce bus, Matteo Jorgenson, the fifth place finisher, was despatched crashing to the deck.
“I used to be behind a rider from one other workforce who didn’t look again and simply turned to his bus instantly, with out trying, and fully took me out,” the US rider defined, including that he got here away comparatively unscathed.
“We have been going 15km/h… it’s extra simply insult to damage, greater than something.”
That extra basic sense of damage occurred over 207 bruising kilometres in what’s sometimes called a ‘costume rehearsal’ for the Tour of Flanders. Visma-Lease a Bike, so dominant and dictating on the Opening Weekend a month in the past, have been pressured onto the again foot as Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) examined them with a sequence of accelerations.
Nevertheless, eager to swat away the concept that they’d been dismantled by the world champion, the workforce have been eager to level out the litany of misfortune that befell them within the Flemish Ardennes.
“The sensation within the automobile was, ah shit, what has occurred immediately?” stated the workforce’s sports activities director, Arthur van Dongen.
The tone was set within the opening kilometres because the workforce’s younger expertise Per Strand Hagenes, crashed out with a head damage. Former Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle then suffered a sequence of mechanical points forward of the essential climb of the Taaienberg, and Tiesj Benoot crashed out whereas the race was nonetheless broad open with 50km to go.
The ultimate nail within the coffin
Nevertheless, the “ultimate nail within the coffin”, as Jorgenson put it, got here on the Paterberg, simply as Van der Poel was launching what would turn into the successful transfer. Group chief Wout van Aert, seeking to nip round riders to observe, misplaced his entrance wheel on the ridge between the gutter and the cobblestones, and went down.
“We had a variety of unlucky occasions occur in a row, and we slowly misplaced the energy of our workforce all through the day. We virtually saved it truly, we virtually pulled it collectively, however the nail within the coffin was when Wout crashed on the Paterberg – that form of ended our race.”
Having beforehand examined the waters in an open and fluid race, Jorgenson’s job then boiled all the way down to launching Van Aert on a rescue mission.
“I needed to handle the group in entrance, be certain nothing acquired away, and look ahead to him to get again. As soon as he was again, I simply set a tempo on the Kwaremont to get us nearer to Mathieu, hoping he’d be capable to get throughout.”
A rampaging Van Aert certainly left everybody else behind to shut inside 15 seconds, however Van der Poel squeezed once more on the Karnemelkbeekstraat and the elastic was stretched to breaking level. Van Aert was finally caught and out-sprinted by Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), whereas Jorgenson took fifth within the finale after describing himself as so “frozen” he might barely pedal.
Query marks
The massive query mark on the end in Harelbeke, was whether or not Van Aert might have matched, and even had the beating of, Van der Poel, had he stayed up proper.
“We predict he might have matched him. That’s my feeling anyway,” stated Van Dongen.
“I nonetheless suppose it was a extremely good race from Wout. Our efficiency employees will test the numbers they usually’ll comprehend it.”
The opposite query mark is whether or not Visma-Lease a Bike might have outmanoeuvred Van der Poel with out the unhealthy luck, or whether or not the world champion’s startling particular person energy is likely to be an excessive amount of even for his or her superior energy in depth.
“Mathieu was excellent and the most effective of immediately,” Van Dongen acknowledged. “However within the case the place we’ve extra numbers, we will play a distinct recreation.”