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Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2024, February 24, one-day classic (men's)

Page 21 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Lotto took a wrong gamble. When Jörgensen was at 8 seconds, De Lie hesitated to ride because he had teammates behind. So in theory it was beneficial for them to let the groups reunite.

In reality they couldn't reel-in Tratnik & Politt afterwards. But to let these 2nd - 3rd fiddle riders escape already was a blunder by the likes of Küng who had just managed to come back as well.

So in the end, lots of wrong tactics today.

Even Visma in the end was simply lucky. Letting the weakest rider move away in Jörgensen cleary was a tactical error as well, since he died out in front.
 
Lotto took a wrong gamble. When Jörgensen was at 8 seconds, De Lie hesitated to ride because he had teammates behind. So in theory it was beneficial for them to let the groups reunite.

In reality they couldn't reel-in Tratnik & Politt afterwards. But to let these 2nd - 3rd fiddle riders escape already was a blunder by the likes of Küng who had just managed to come back as well.

So in the end, lots of wrong tactics today.

Even Visma in the end was simply lucky. Letting the weakest rider move away in Jörgensen cleary was a tactical error as well, since he died out in front.
It looked to me like Visma was simply taking turns going off the front at that point—it was De Lie and Skujins that let Jorgenson go without chasing after they had chased La Porte and Wout prior to that. But that ended up meaning they had to chase (unsuccessfully) anyways, which eventually let the peloton come back. Too bad for Skujins who looked really strong today.
 
How could anyone have doubted the great Tratnik, he was clearly the favorite. Good decoy attacks by Wout and Laporte to misdirect others from Tratnik.

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If Tratnik was in the early break he also could've been the strongest Visma rider, if you've seen him in Algarve. He looked really comfortable in the final.
Tratnik also seems to have dropped 5 kg from when he was on Bahrain. PCS lists him at 67 kg which just seems a lot smaller than I remember him being.

Anyway, fun race, Visma's tactics almost backfired; thankfully Tratnik was strong. I would have liked to see Laporte and Wout try to go once it was apparent that Jorgensen wasn't going to ride away.
 
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yeah, a bit lucky, but Gautharet was also 2nd over the Muur from the peloton, as far as I could see.

edit: as mentioned above. Missed those posts
here's the full order over the Muur:
  1. Jorgenson
  2. +13s de Lie, van Aert, Laporte, Skujins
  3. +17s Wellens
  4. +21s Gautherat, Teuns
  5. +24s Pidcock, Küng
  6. +26s Mohoric, Stuyven, Politt
  7. +29s Tiller
  8. +31s Trentin, Beullens, van Baarle, Rex, Naesen, Biermans, Cortina, Hoelgaard, de Bondt, Vermeersch, de Gendt, Tratnik, Touzé
  9. +39s Kirsch, de Buyst, Campenaerts, van Moer
  10. +43s Kristoff, Lampaert, Benoot, Lutsenko, Morgado, Teunissen, Jacobs, Haller, Schelling
  11. +49s Girmay, Eenckhoorn, Capiot, Rutsch, Page
from those, the first 39 made the peloton in the end, everyone on from Schelling did not.

Didn't notice that Tratnik was this far back.
 
Lotto took a wrong gamble. When Jörgensen was at 8 seconds, De Lie hesitated to ride because he had teammates behind. So in theory it was beneficial for them to let the groups reunite.

In reality they couldn't reel-in Tratnik & Politt afterwards. But to let these 2nd - 3rd fiddle riders escape already was a blunder by the likes of Küng who had just managed to come back as well.

So in the end, lots of wrong tactics today.

Even Visma in the end was simply lucky. Letting the weakest rider move away in Jörgensen cleary was a tactical error as well, since he died out in front.
I thought de lie just too much energy spent trying to stay in with all of that leading group for so long. If he had found himself in the chasing peloton he could have just as well won the race.

Tactically he did the right thing to get in that leading group. In hindsight he might have benefited in a larger successful chase if the peloton
 
here's the full order over the Muur:
  1. Jorgenson
  2. +13s de Lie, van Aert, Laporte, Skujins
  3. +17s Wellens
  4. +21s Gautherat, Teuns
  5. +24s Pidcock, Küng
  6. +26s Mohoric, Stuyven, Politt
  7. +29s Tiller
  8. +31s Trentin, Beullens, van Baarle, Rex, Naesen, Biermans, Cortina, Hoelgaard, de Bondt, Vermeersch, de Gendt, Tratnik, Touzé
  9. +39s Kirsch, de Buyst, Campenaerts, van Moer
  10. +43s Kristoff, Lampaert, Benoot, Lutsenko, Morgado, Teunissen, Jacobs, Haller, Schelling
  11. +49s Girmay, Eenckhoorn, Capiot, Rutsch, Page
from those, the first 39 made the peloton in the end, everyone on from Schelling did not.

Didn't notice that Tratnik was this far back.
The order over Bosberg (Jorgenson + first chasing group)

1. Jorgenson

...(3s gap)...

2. Garcia Cortina
3. Van Aert
4. De Lie
5. Wellens
6. Laporte
7. Teuns
8. Skujiņš

...(2s gap)...

9. Tratnik
10. Küng
11. Kirsch
12. Naesen
13. Politt
14. Mohorič
15. Gautherat
 
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I missed the race but I'm disappointed that De Lie did not win. I don't even know how he failed to fight for the finish. I'll have to see some highlights on youtube.
I'm actually happy with how he was going today, looked real strong on the Muur. He's up there with the strongest riders so can't really ask for much more. Especially at his age... Dude's a beast