As the lads’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was heading into the ultimate, the ladies’s version was nonetheless within the early part of the race. But this turned out to be a decisive part because the early breakaway stored including to its benefit. In the peloton, not one of the massive groups took duty to manage the hole and convey again the attackers, as a substitute seeking to their rivals to start out the chase first in a sport of ‘who blinks first’ till, finally, it was too little, too late.
The skilled 38-year-old Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) realised throughout the race that the hole had grow to be too massive, however didn’t see her group as being the one liable for chasing.
“I believed it was approach an excessive amount of, however I additionally thought ‘it’s less than us’. Most of the groups have been considering that; it was a very unusual race,” Van Dijk instructed Cyclingnews as she appeared again on a curious day trip in Flanders.
“I believe it’s the brand new dynamic within the peloton with riders in several groups, after which they begin one another. It was sort of the primary race the place they are saying, like, ‘it’s as much as you’, ‘no, it’s as much as you’, after which no one is doing it, and anyone else goes to win,” the Dutchwoman mentioned.
Pfeiffer Georgi (Team Picnic PostNL) had comparable emotions.
“We heard 10-12 minutes, and our feeling was like ‘okay, that is fairly massive’, however we thought it wasn’t as much as us to chase, we don’t have a favorite. I believe it was right down to FDJ and SD Worx to start out however I believe everybody was sort of ready,” the British champion mentioned.
Puck Pieterse and her Fenix-Deceuninck additionally appeared to FDJ-Suez and SD Worx to indicate their playing cards. The 22-year-old was the one one who may sustain with Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) when the latter made her transfer on the Muur however needed to preserve her personal powder dry.
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“It was tremendous irritating for me personally as I wish to race within the entrance. But it’s not my job to start out pulling as a result of I’ve to outlive the Muur as properly. We have been seeking to SD Worx and particularly to FDJ to start out pulling, after which we’d put anyone in as properly. In the ultimate, earlier than the Muur, we put a few of our riders in along with FDJ, however that was already too late,” Pieterse mentioned after her fourth-place end.
Vollering, racing the primary Classic together with her new group FDJ-Suez, had talked to her former teammates throughout the race however obtained a transparent reply.
“I went to the SD Worx riders and requested, ‘don’t you wish to chase’, and so they mentioned, ‘no, we’re not allowed to chase by the automobile’. I had the impression that the ladies didn’t prefer it both, however that’s how it’s,” recounted the 28-year-old.
“I believe that at the start of the season, all people is a bit too afraid to place their palms within the hearth too early, they’re afraid that they should journey first each time for the remainder of the season. Then it turns into a big gamble, and whoever is one of the best at bluffing wins … or not. Today, none of us received,” Vollering continued.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) defended her group’s determination to name their rivals’ bluff.
“We didn’t have a rider to return over the Muur within the first group, so we thought it was a bit extra as much as the opposite groups. Everybody was ready, and we weren’t the primary ones to start out a chase. At one level Puck got here to us, like, ‘in case you begin to chase, we begin to chase’. But it was actually one another at that time,” Wiebes mentioned.
“I used to be feeling fairly okay, however I wasn’t one hundred pc certain to recover from the Muur within the first group. And ultimately, Puck and Demi stayed in entrance. So even when we had caught the entrance group, we’d have been sprinting for third place, and that’s additionally not what we come for. It would have been completely different if we had Lotte at present, as an example, as a result of then you recognize that she will observe Demi,” defined Wiebes.
Asked if she had skilled something like this earlier than, Van Dijk drew parallels to the 2021 Olympic Games street race.
“I wasn’t there, however I believe the Tokyo Olympics was very comparable,” she mentioned.
Georgi may see the positives in how the race performed out, giving escapees extra hope that they will make it.
“Sometimes biking is unpredictable. And I believe it reveals that in case you take your possibilities, it will probably repay and you may win,” mentioned Georgi.
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