Belgian Bonanza '25: 20th Omloop Nieuwsblad WWT + 20th Omloop Hageland + 14th Le Samyn (March 1st, 2nd and 4th )

[Andy262]

Interesting comments from Demi, sounds like SDworx plan is to let FDJ do the work for them, rather than concern themselves with what they can achieve by themselves.

"They said: ‘No, we’re not allowed to'" - Demi Vollering disappointed with the approach of her former teammates at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Unreal scenes unfolded at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad WE where a breakaway duo of relatively unknown riders won ahead of Demi Vollering and the rest of favourites by more than 3 minutes. In the peloton,...

cyclinguptodate.com

SDWorx really are the most unlikeable team.

 

[JR1012]

Why? They didn't have to chase because they didn't had the favourite. You can also blame Movistar and Fenix-Deceuninck for not chasing. Its not in every race the task of SDWorx to do the chasing.
As Vollering is now at FDJ they need to take responsibility to do the work.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

SDW have been riding like that most of the time. The difference now is that they don't necessarily have the strongest rider or enough depth to attack to put pressure on the other teams. That could possibly have been the case if they had brought Kopecky and Van der Breggen to Omloop. Two of the four fastest women up the Muur were their former riders, while their own riders were struggling further back.

Now we didn't really see that much of the peloton/chasing group afterwards, so I was actually surprised they were so close to catching Demi and Puck in the end. If SDW didn't work hard in that group to try and secure a podium for Wiebes, then I will agree they made a huge mistake, but I'm also not sure whether they had other riders than Bredewold and possibly Markus in there at some point.

However while I do agree SDW shouldn't be doing most of the work, they should of course still contribute in these situations. They still want to win races, and you can't do that if the gap is 13 minutes. But it should not come as a surprise to anyone that they didn't want to help.

In Hageland, it went much better for them. Gerritse deserved to get a first pro win. Gillespie turned out to be the fastest on the day, but she started her sprint too far back.

 

[awavey]

Why? They didn't have to chase because they didn't had the favourite. You can also blame Movistar and Fenix-Deceuninck for not chasing. Its not in every race the task of SDWorx to do the chasing.
As Vollering is now at FDJ they need to take responsibility to do the work.

But it's not the other teams responsibility to give SDworx the free ride they wanted either.

It is SDworx responsibility to get the best result they can regardless of the other teams games. You're in the race to try to win, its not a coffee ride, so everyone staring at each other results in the result we saw.

As their tactics in that race, which would have been classic AvdB ds'ing style,we aren't doing anything unless Demis team do all the work for us and we let Demi do what she always does and go off to pull a breakaway back and wreck her chances and scoop up the pieces

That's not racing for SDworx, that's racing just focused on Demi which is a stupid tactic for them, because FDJ seem to have the strength, depth and people with enough sense to guide her better tactically

 

[LookProGoSlow]

wtf was that leadout for Wiebes by Jayco women's?

 

[yaco]

wtf was that leadout for Wiebes by Jayco women's?

They are trying to win the race. In saying that Jayco's programming of their team is atrocious. They had to ride Hegeland and with that team performance today they would have just about won that race. You have to avoid Wiebes where possible!

 

[Didinho]

I think everyone was a bit on the limit after the last cobble section to even think about playing the number game. Jayco had 4-5 riders but unable to attack I guess. Wiebes just superior, was freewheeling untill the sprint.

Just happy that Letizia is back in front. Making the race and getting better every day. Doing the leadout and a top 10 for her.

 

[theyoungest]

They are trying to win the race. In saying that Jayco's programming of their team is atrocious. They had to ride Hegeland and with that team performance today they would have just about won that race. You have to avoid Wiebes where possible!

This is not how you win the race though. Do a leadout for the strongest sprinter (by far) who is alone in the front group.

 

[yaco]

This is not how you win the race though. Do a leadout for the strongest sprinter (by far) who is alone in the front group.

Do you watch the TV coverage? Jayco was the most aggressive team in the race and their riders made multiple attacks in the last 50kms. Possibly they could have tried an attack in the last 3 kms BUT the fact is they were at the wrong race. They needed to race Hageland.

 

[Lexman]

De Lie doing stupid, he's in the wheel of CdP and he lets him go and looks around...

 

[Lexman]

what a bad luck for ADL again...

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

LOL @ Magnier's reaction.

 

[awavey]

This is not how you win the race though. Do a leadout for the strongest sprinter (by far) who is alone in the front group.

My thought was try box her in with the numbers you had and go as soon as you can, it was obvious after the cobbles Wiebes was going to win as she wasn't even having to make an effort to keep up and no one looked to have the power left other than just roll to the line. I guess maybe you had to go harder earlier to force a selection that dropped her sooner

Kool was ill apparently

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

LOL @ Magnier's reaction.

Was he reacting to the result in the women's race? (that was the intended topic of this thread)