It wasn’t quite snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but it was snatching defeat from the jaws of the chance of victory at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday.
As Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and a chasing quartet wiggled their way around the famous housing estate which marks the end of the race, it seemed inevitable that the two groups would join up. The gap dropped below 10 seconds, then five, then one of the riders behind could have chucked a bottle at the Belgian.
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The oft-repeated cliché is that you have to risk it all to win, and none of the chasing group were prepared to put it all on the line. It ended in a bit of a damp squib.
“Then the cooperation suddenly disappeared. I thought: I’m not going to put all my cards on the table here. I’d rather let Mathieu ride. Then we’ll sprint for second place. That’s racing. I’m certainly not angry with my fellow escapees. This is part of it.”
“It is a real shame, because I felt there was more in it,” he continued. “Especially due to the bad luck before the Kortekeer [Vermeersch was forced to change bike and chase the peloton]. “The race could have looked different, but I certainly wouldn’t say I could have followed Mathieu.
For his part, Strand Hagenes said: “I think for me second place is a great result, we have to be honest about this. When you see how close you get you hope you can fight to win, but you know you’re going to start playing around a bit in the finale with the group we were sitting in. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch him and couldn’t sprint for the win, but that’s racing. Second place, I think, is a really good result for me.
“There wasn’t a lot of talking. Vermeersch wanted Abrahamsen to do one more pull, he didn’t want to do it, I don’t want to do it, Vermeersch didn’t want to just sit and close it. That’s racing, and it ended up being what it was.”
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