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WEVELGEM, Belgium (Velo) – After Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s sporting manager Christoph Roodhooft hit out at the other sprinter teams.
The Belgian manager rued the lack of support to bring back the winning solo move from Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). “I thought this was an important race. I thought we were racing for first place,” he said, speaking when coming off the Alpecin team bus in Wevelgem.
“This race is in our top-5 of most important races of the season. It’s a very difficult and tough race, with a lot of wind today. In the final there’s a group of 40 riders and still there’s only three teams working. That’s weird.
“I thought that this was a big race in which the first place was very important. I saw Uno X and one rider from Quick-Step, but just one. We threw in all our men, as long as we could. We left Jasper on his own to do that. If everybody had done that, then a sprint for first place would’ve easily been possible.”
The team’s star sprinter Jasper Philipsen named one of the targeted teams. “It was a chase but maybe not the best organization. I think some other teams like, for example, Quick-Step could have put some extra riders but that’s their decision. That’s how it is,” he said when talking to the media in the mixed zone.
Philipsen appeared to be in form and able to respond when Pedersen made his big attack from the peloton.
However he was hit by bad luck, with a deflating tire ruining his chances at that moment.
“I felt good but we were a bit unfortunate today. Mads Pedersen was really strong,” he said.
Did neutral service issues cost him his chance?
When asked if he would’ve been able to keep up until the finish line, Philipsen laughed. “That, you cannot say. At that moment I was feeling really strong and I could follow him. Then I was unlucky to get a puncture.
“I switched focus to the bunch sprint. He was so strong today that he kept going. We also missed a strong teammate like Gianni Vermeersch in the chase.”
Roodhooft knew that Vermeersch’s absence was key. It shouldn’t have been that way, according to him. He felt that the race jury made a mistake at the famous Moeren section, where the peloton split into pieces as echelons were formed when riding into the cross winds.
“Gianni Vermeersch was in the group and punctured but there was no neutral car behind them. He ends up in the last group with the dropped riders. That was wrong and shouldn’t have happened; someone made a mistake, that was clear. There was enough space to get a neutral car there,” Roodhooft said.
Alpecin-Deceuninck was the first team in the long line of team cars behind the peloton. But when the peloton splits up and the gaps aren’t bigger than a minute, the neutral car or motorbike is expected to dive in.
Much later, when Mads Pedersen surged forward on the gravel roads – called plug streets in Gent-Wevelgem – team leader Jasper Philipsen marked his move. That was until he punctured too, and once again his own team car wasn’t there yet.
“It wasn’t fun. We were always chasing behind,” Roodhooft bemoaned.
‘It was a naïve thought’
Had things gone differently, Philipsen may have been able to go with Pedersen’s move.
Both riders are strong; both are very fast finishers. It could have changed the entire race.
“We knew that Pedersen was going to bridge across. Jasper was good enough to mark him,” Roodhooft said.
“He was able to follow his move but then he also punctured untimely. That’s very unlucky.’
He rued what might have been.
“Jasper had a very good day. He would’ve ridden to Wevelgem with Pedersen. He had to take a bike from Robbe Ghys. We weren’t allowed to pass through. He had to stay on the bike from Robbe Ghys for a long time. Then we tried to get a sprint for first place but, as it turned out, that was a naive thought.
“First place didn’t seem to be that important. I felt that we were loyal towards the peloton. Early on we put Fabio Van den Bossche in front. We helped to control the breakaway of nine riders with Lidl-Trek.
“In the sprint Jasper got boxed in. He was on his own. Trek did a nice lead-out. Quick-Step still had Van Lerberghe. Jasper was trying to win the race.”
‘Teams with a clear leader are more pleasant to race with’
Next Wednesday there’s Dwars door Vlaanderen and next Sunday the second monument of the season: the Ronde van Vlaanderen, where Alpecin’s Mathieu van der Poel is the defending champion.
With the eye on those upcoming big races, Sunday’s win for Mads Pedersen will probably result in Lidl-Trek becoming a partner in controlling those races early on.
“I haven’t thought about that yet but that’s probably the case. The more the merrier. Teams with a clear leader are more pleasant to race the finale with, to race for first place,” Roodhooft said, hitting out one final time.
Philipsen looked forward to next week. “Flanders is going to be an exciting race. Obviously Mathieu is in a really good shape and there are still some other guys that are really strong.”
