Jumbo-Visma might have dominated Opening Weekend, with their one-two finish at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne rounding out a weekend that saw them take a one-three at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but other teams did manage to take something away from the weekend.
The third step of the podium in Kuurne was taken up by Bahrain Victorious and their Slovenian star Matej Mohorič. He had the power to make the deciding split 84km out at Le Bourliquet and race to the final with the eventual five-man group that emerged thereafter, but at the line, missed out as Tiesj Benoot and Nathan Van Hooydonck sprinted to glory.
Despite the near miss after spending almost half the race out in front, the feeling in the Bahrain Victorious camp afterwards was largely one of satisfaction that they had done all they could to make the race and go for their third win of 2023.
“I think we’ve been riding really well,” Fred Wright told Cyclingnews on the long N50 road that hosted the start and finish of Sunday’s race. “We’re maybe not quite on the same level as Jumbo-Visma, but I thought we rode really well as a team today.”
After taking to the stage to celebrate a hard-earned podium spot, his first of the season, Mohorič told Cyclingnews that he was happy with his day’s work.
“I’m happy because it was the most I could do,” he said. “I don’t think I could have won today because the parcours was not hard enough in the final. I mean, if I had the legs to counter Nathan really super, then yes, but I didn’t, so it was the maximum I could do.
“Yes,” he added when asked whether it was too flat to make a gap in the finale. “Also, Taco [Van der Hoorn, fourth] was gambling a lot, and I was expecting a big, big attack from him. That would make it easier for me to counter, too, but I didn’t come. But everybody does their own race in the final. This is the way it should be.”
The results sheet shows Jumbo-Visma having dominated the race, and that was pretty much the story of that final run-in, too. Aside from a countermove by Mohorič at 3.5km to go, the front group saw Benoot and Van Hooydonck take turns to jump at the front before the final, successful move came after the last bend onto the home straight.
As Benoot shot away, Tim Wellens turned around to see Van Hooydonck behind him, the 27-year-old forcing the rest to come around him to chase and sprint. Mohorič said that following Benoot in the final would just have seen him lose out on even a podium place. Jumbo-Visma had played the numbers game perfectly.
“I…
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