Cries of pain, and joy. The Dutch team Visma-Lease a bike had a special day on Wednesday during À Travers la Flanders. 65 kilometers from the finish, she lost her leader Wout Van Aert, who fell and was forced to retire, his right shoulder very sore, which will undoubtedly have consequences for the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. A full hour later, the Dutch team saw another of its riders win, in the person of Matteo Jorgenson.
The 24-year-old American won alone after a sharp attack 7 kilometers from the finish, which none of his companions were able to follow. And for good reason: they had already been well worn by Tiesj Benoot, Jorgenson’s model teammate, who had placed three attacks in the final and made the opponents work, in particular Stefan Küng.
Lonely Küng, “cramped” Bettiol
The Swiss from Groupama-FDJ was undoubtedly one of the strongest at the front but he paid for his numerical inferiority and finished 3rd, beaten in the sprint by Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), the amazing Norwegian who survived the breakaway of the day, like Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), fifth. Before that, Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) had tried to anticipate by leaving 23 kilometers from the finish, before suffering from cramps a few minutes later.
“Our strategy was to be outnumbered in the final, and without Tiesj, I probably wouldn’t have won,” said Jorgenson, who explained that he experienced Van Aert’s accident as “a racing incident, but we continued together, putting all that aside.” Already winner of Paris-Nice at the beginning of the month, the American, who passed through Chambéry and defected from Movistar last winter, is experiencing “a dream season, it’s incredible”, he relished.
Many favorites on the ground
But the race was above all marked by a heavy fall which knocked out the favorite, Wout Van Aert, who could be heard screaming in pain on the ground, and many outsiders. Like the Belgian, Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) had to be evacuated on a stretcher. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) was forced to retire, while Mads Pedersen, winner of Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday, also fell but was able to restart, like the winner of Milan-San Remo Jasper Philipsen.
Everyone’s fitness levels will be closely monitored before the start of the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. On the French side, note the great day of Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), in the good breakaway and who knew how to hang on to finish in the top 10 in Waregem (10th).
