25/02/2024 08:45 | by Tom van der Salm
Visma | Lease a Bike was able to celebrate again after the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday evening, as the Jan Tratnik team managed to take victory in the opener of the classic season. Afterwards, teammates Dylan van Baarle, Tiesj Benoot and Mattep Jorgenson told their story to In de Leiderstrui, among others.
First of all: how did Van Baarle himself do, who, besides Tratnik, is the only man from Visma | Lease a Bike on the wrong side of the crack was in the middle phase. ‘We had the plan to start early, which everyone succeeded. Except me, I just had to leave the gap on the side. I couldn’t go along at that moment.’ And so his course seemed half over. “From that moment on we tried to get into a good situation, but I never saw it coming that me and Jan would eventually come back,” he is honest. ‘I didn’t think about victory. I didn’t have the feeling I had last year, but that can happen.’
Meanwhile, teammates Jorgenson, Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte were already part of a leading group of six, which seemed to be fighting for victory for a long time. ‘I didn’t get everything, but I heard on the radio that things went as we had hoped. That’s the great thing about our team: if I, or Benoot, aren’t having a good day, other men step up. Now it is Jan and Wout comes third.’
And so there can be champagne on the table. ‘We are happy for everyone, especially Jan. It was his birthday yesterday, so this is a nice gift,” said Van Baarle, who, like the Slovenian, lives in Monaco. ‘We had all seen it for weeks that he was in excellent condition. He is a very relaxed guy who works professionally. I often train with him when we are at home and he is a great guy to have around. And incredibly strong, so versatile.’
Benoot had problems with his sacrum, Jorgenson was very satisfied
The same words for Benoot, who, like Van Baarle, did not have the best day. ‘I had pain in my sacrum after the fall in Algarve, I felt that in the second half of the race. I wasn’t myself on the bike. We had the plan to pull things aside, but in the end it became exciting. We didn’t expect what happened in the final either. I did have a difficult moment on the Muur, but that was actually the case from the moment Matteo broke open the race. Yet everything came together on the Bosberg and we caught up with him.’
“The moment I got to Wout, Jan drove away,” Benoot remembers. ‘That was quick action, but of course he could continue driving and then we could play poker again. Wout is third, so they should have been caught. What is the conclusion then? Preferably with Visma | Then Lease a Bike by…’, says the ever-friendly Belgian with a big grin.
So Jorgenson was the guy who set it all up. ‘It was a dream come true to take the lead solo in my first race. I had to pinch myself there, this has always been one of my dream races,” said the American. ‘It went well. But towards the Wall it was full of headwinds. Before I got to the Kapelmuur, I was already over my threshold value. So I was happy that I got over the Bosberg, and that way I managed to set up the team perfectly,” he said with satisfaction.
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