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

[USAChrisKY]

Tratnik doing well this year, podium at Jaen and now winning Omloop. I was hoping Lidl Trek could stay in the chasing group or just up front but it wasn’t to be, 7 place for Stuvyven . Anyhow ! Good race to watch! On to KBK!

Oh and Flo Sports is awful.

 

[Sciatic]

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.

He was in a 6-man lead group with 3 Vismas, so was always going to tough for him to win from that situation,

 

[Lequack]

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.

 

[Bolder]

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.

 

[fbjim]

I miss Jorgenson being on Movistar. American Movistar Classics Rider Matteo Jorgenson will never be forgotten.

 

[search]

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.

 

[scribers]

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

 

[Alexandre B.]

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

 

[frisenfruitig]

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

 

[Rob5091]

An unexpected ending with Tratnik & Politt being chased by Uno-X & Lotto, but it's the first big race in Belgium this year so expect normality to be resumed in the near future!

 

[Sciatic]

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.

Even though my French has really slipped away, a great thing about watching a cobbled classic on a Belgian broadcast (RTBF) is how good the announcers are at ID’ing riders. When the main groups passed over the top of the Kappelmuur and go by that fixed camera view at the right turn, they were able to rapid-fire call out the names of almost all the first 20 or riders (after the leaders already went by).

It probably helped that there were a lot of veteran classics guys in the front groups today.

 

[yaco]

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.

The fact is Tratnik was not strong enough in the crosswinds which split up the race.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Jan Tratnik for the win.

His dedication, motivation and form is stellar and it finally paid off. He got a little help from Politt still he was a level above at the end, Visma used the numbers to perfection.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Just watched the race
Now that was crazy stuff.
Kudos Tratnik!
The cunning once again cheating the less cunning

 

[johnymax]

Tratnik in great form. He should be co-leader with Aert for the classics.

This is my quote from the Volta Algarve thread.

Sorry guys, I was underestimating Tratnik there. He should clearly be Visma's sole leader in the classics from now on. They don't need Aert in the classics no more. He should now concentrate and aim for maglia ciclamino in the Giro.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Couldn't watch any race today, looks like a really big 3rd place for the Belgian Max Richeze behind his leader! Wow!

You know, I really do have to honor your dedication.

 

[Roku]

Nice to see Rex starting to fulfil his potential after a top ten in Roubaix a few years back.

He is looking very good. He's been impressive leading out Thijssen and looks improved on cobbled climbs as well, compared to previous year. A real dark horse for Roubaix.

 

[Blanco]

The fact is Tratnik was not strong enough in the crosswinds which split up the race.

The fact is that you really don't know why he missed the split. Lot of strong riders missed it: Kung, Mohoric, Alaphilippe, to name a few... Maybe he was helping Van Aert or Laporte, maybe he was back for some reason, maybe he had some kind of misfortune. But saying that a rider who just won a race, and this season is 2,3,3,1 out of four races, is not strong enough.., I don't think so.

 

[Blanco]

This was always wout’s race to dictate. The guy either wins or picks the winner (unless mvp is there)

He could try to dictate so that he could win once in a while...

 

[scribers]

His only option is to go before his teammates do. Otherwise he’s just dragging the competition up to them

 

[scribers]

Maybe he should be wearing a different jersey. Opportunities would be much greater

 

[Salvarani]

The fact is Tratnik was not strong enough in the crosswinds which split up the race.

Do you know that or watched it? We dont really know what happened or how it occured before the live pictures, as far as I know, unless you have a source or interview supporting this that I havent heard or seen.

Maybe he was just further down or held up when the split happened. He wasnt gonna chase or help when Visma had gotten Van Aert, Laporte and Jorgenson up the road.

If anything it only benefitted him... since he got a free ride right until the end. He had something left for a big attack. He is in great form and had luck on his side. Seems to be very much be in the zone right now and making the most out of it.

 

[tobydawq]

"opening his sprint before the last km"

Yeah opening his sprint...

I suppose this was a comment on the Ardeche race? What a horrible commentary pairing.

 

[Samamba]

I suppose this was a comment on the Ardeche race? What a horrible commentary pairing.

Yeah my bad.

 

[tobydawq]

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.

okay