Visma | Lease a Bike lined up at the start of the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday with high hopes, but after 200 kilometers of racing, they had to settle for ninth place and three riders in the top twenty. Matteo Jorgenson , Wout van Aert , and Tiesj Benoot weren’t strong enough to follow the best in the race—undeniably a bitter pill to swallow. Sporting director Grischa Niermann spoke on behalf of the team afterwards.
All eyes, of course, were on Van Aert, who descended from Teide to Harelbeke for his big return. The Belgian gave a brief interview to rights holder VTM before riding straight to the team bus—which was understandable given the cold, wet weather in Flanders. “I missed the move on the Taaienberg. I was a little too far back—just behind the split when we hit the climb, around 20th position or so. From then on, it was chasing from behind, yeah…” said the team leader.
Van Aert couldn’t quite put his feelings into words post-race. “It’s hard to say. I think I had a decent finale, but of course I’d hoped to be more in the mix earlier on. I came here for a result, and that didn’t happen,” said the 15th-place finisher of the E3 Saxo Classic. Jorgenson ended up being the team’s top finisher, in ninth place.
“We weren’t ideally positioned on the Taaienberg, so we couldn’t react to the moves at the front. I ended up in a chasing group, but the […]
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