If you think the CERR picture is funny, you should have seen my face when the riders got there
@Shonak: Latour's results are very promising. He'll get a chance to prove himself on a bigger stage at Tirreno-Adriatico.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | 01.03.2021
J. Keukeleire
A. Petit
H. Desbordes
P. Périchon
J. Herrada
A. Viviani
E. Finé
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
2.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
3.
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
...
7.
Piet Allegaert
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
4h43'16
2
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
+ 33
3
Jens Keukeleire
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 57
4
Yves Lampaert
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
5
Dylan Van Baarle
Team Ineos
s.t.
This is uncharted territory for out team - actual competitiveness on cobblestones! Van Aert and Van der Poel were too strong, but Keukeleire just barely won the sprint behind the two to finish third, despite not having his best day. A promising result going forward.
Strade Bianche | 03.03.2021
F. Barceló
M. Utro
A. Perez
J. Keukeleire
P. Latour
H. Desbordes
L. Duchemin
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
2.
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
3.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
...
7.
Anthony Perez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1
Dylan Teuns
Bahrain - McLaren
4h40'28
2
Massimiliano Utro
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
3
Fernando Barceló
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
4
Gianni Moscon
Team Ineos
s.t.
5
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Massimiliano Utro. Remember the name, friends!
Paris - Nice | 08.03. – 15.03.2021
D. Gaudu
M. Soler
E. Gesbert
L. Maté
C. Laporte
T. Boudat
D. Touzé
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Geraint Thomas
Team Ineos
2.
Guillaume Martin
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
3.
Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
Stage 1
1.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
27’02
2.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 5
3.
Rigoberto Urán
Team Ineos
+ 12
…
47.
David Gaudu
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 1’18
Stage 2
1.
Fernando Gaviria
UAE Team Emirates
5h14’18
2.
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
3.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
...
9.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 3
1.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h10’04
2.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 23
3.
Thibaut Pinot
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Stage 4
1.
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
5h10’07
2.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck-Quick Step
+ 1’12
3.
Rui Costa
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
...
5.
David Gaudu
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 5
1.
Sep Vanmarcke
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
5h08’43
2.
Alex Kirsch
Trek - Segafredo
s.t.
3.
Anthony Turgis
Team Total Direct Energie
s.t.
…
7.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 1’23
Stage 6
1.
Egan Bernal
Team Ineos
3h05’54
2.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 9
3.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Stage 7
1.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
4h58’02
2.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkea - Samic
s.t.
3.
James Knox
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
…
9.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 1’02
Stage 8
1.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck-Quick Step
4h56’31
2.
Jonas Vingegaard
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
3.
Carl Fredrik Hagen
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
…
11.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 1’51
1.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
33h16'13
2.
Egan Bernal
Team Ineos
+ 1’37
3.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 2’07
4.
Thibaut Pinot
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 2’11
5.
Romain Bardet
Ag2r La Mondiale
+ 2’14
1.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
121
2.
Egan Bernal
Team Ineos
79
3.
Vincenzo Nibali
Team Ineos
66
This was supposed to be David Gaudu’s race while Soler continued to prep for Catalunya. But then Soler crushed the opening time trial and Gaudu had terrible legs on the first mountain stage. He gave Soler the go, who promptly won the stage, took the yellow jersey and never gave it back. Gaudu and Gesbert both provided great support on the ensuing mountain stages and our lead was never in danger. This is no doubt the biggest win of our tenure with Cofidis so far - let's hope it doesn't spell trouble for Gaudu's relationship with either Soler or the team.
Unfortunately, Christophe Laporte didn't do well in the first sprint stage, and after the second, which went to a breakaway, he was diagnosed with an Achilles tenditis. It is unclear how long he'll be out, but Milano - Sanremo is very much in danger.
Wow great result by Soler, hitting the ground running and just aceing Paris-Nice, well done. Flawless performance with two stage wins and great support for sure.
And Utr and Barcelo, what..How did this happen. Choo-choo hype train!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the consistent comments The team will try to keep up the great performances
Tirreno - Adriatico | 11.03. - 17.03.2021
P. Latour
J. Hansen
V. Lafay
N. Haas
E. Viviani
S. Consonni
M. Mathis
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
2.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
3.
Matteo Trentin
CCC Team
Stage 1
1.
Team Ineos
24’21
2.
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 5
3.
Deceuninck-Quick Step
+ 8
…
10.
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 49
Stage 2
1.
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
4h02’30
2.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
3.
Mike Teunissen
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
4.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 3
1.
Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
5h52’53
2.
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 10
3.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
…
9.
Pierre Latour
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 4
1.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
6h01'56
2.
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 1’27
3.
Pierre Latour
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 2'25
Stage 5
1.
Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
4h17’45
2.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 8
3.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
…
5.
Pierre Latour
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 6
1.
Tosh Van der Sande
Lotto Soudal
3h45’56
2.
Fabian Lienhard
Groupama - FDJ
s.t.
3.
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
...
5.
Simone Consonni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 7
1.
Rohan Dennis
Team Ineos
11’23
2.
Lawson Craddock
EF Pro Cycling
+ 3
3.
Victor Campenaerts
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 10
…
18.
Pierre Latour
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 28
1.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
24h36’57
2.
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 2’12
3.
Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 3’34
4.
Pierre Latour
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3’43
5.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 4’14
In his first World Tour race as a Cofidis leader, Pierre Latour made the absolute most of this opportunity. We lost a pretty big chunk of time in the opening TTT, but a stellar performance on the only mountain stage vaulted Pierre into podium contention. Unfortunately, Patrick Konrad was too strong on both hilltop finishes and recovered enough time to narrowly take third place, but this was still a great race for us. Except for the sprint stages, which were nothing to write home about, but we’ll look past that here.
Milano - Sanremo | 23.03.2021
C. Laporte
T. Boudat
A. Petit
D. Touzé
M. Mathis
H. Desbordes
L. Duchemin
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
2.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
3.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
4.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
7h06’24
2
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
3
Arnaud Démare
Groupama - FDJ
s.t.
4
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
5
Sonny Colbrelli
Bahrain - McLaren
s.t.
6.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Laporte was still suffering from his Achilles tenditis, but the team doctors cleared him to race. With Viviani going to Catalunya, we had no Plan B and Laporte was very, very clear that he wanted to race. So he did. His rough condition showed, but he still did reasonably well. Van der Poel defended his title in dominant fashion.
Shonak wrote:
Seems like VDP is auto winning MSR the next few years like Merckx. Odd tbat Viviani didnt race tho.
We really have to think of something if we want to take that race from him ^^ As for Viviani, we wanted one of the top sprinters in Catalunya, and maybe the logical thing would have been to have the Italian race MSR, but Laporte has earned the right to race the more prestigeous race, so that's what we went with. As you'll see, Viviani hopefully won't be too upset:
Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña | 23.03. - 29.03.2021
M. Soler
J. Hansen
V. Lafay
N. Haas
E. Viviani
S. Consonni
M. Mathis
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Geraint Thomas
Team Ineos
2.
Romain Bardet
Ag2r La Mondiale
3.
Guillaume Martin
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
Stage 1
1.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h08’21
2.
Kristoffer Halvorsen
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
3.
Mark Cavendish
Bahrain - McLaren
s.t.
Stage 2
1.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h06’49
2.
Simone Consonni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
3.
Kristoffer Halvorsen
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
Stage 3
1.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h57’03
2.
Jonas Vingegaard
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
3.
Chris Harper
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Stage 4
1.
Thibaut Pinot
Mitchelton-Scott
4h41’42
2.
Egan Bernal
Team Ineos
s.t.
3.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 10
Stage 5
1.
Rui Costa
UAE Team Emirates
5h07’59
2.
Cesare Benedetti
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
3.
Egan Bernal
Team Ineos
s.t.
4.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Stage 6
1.
Tom Jelte Slagter
CCC Team
4h01‘39
2.
Jetse Bol
Burgos - BH
s.t.
3.
Jaakko Hänninen
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
...
15.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 1’57
Stage 7
1.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
3h03’08
2.
Mattia Cattaneo
Deceuninck-Quick Step
s.t.
3.
Alex Aranburu
Astana Team
s.t.
1.
Marc Soler
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
30h08’24
2.
Thibaut Pinot
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 4
3.
Egan Bernal
Team Ineos
s.t.
4.
Geraint Thomas
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 1’36
5.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 2’06
Marc Soler is on a roll! Having taken the yellow jersey with a stage win on day three, Pinot and Bernal were just slightly stronger on stage 4. But he limited his losses, and with an aggressive attack on the final hill of stage 7, he took stage win number two and enough bonus seconds for the overall victory. Elia Viviani also had some highlights after a subpar Tirreno-Adriatico, with two stage wins - in an arguably weaker field, but stage wins nonetheless!
purepasd wrote:
Very dominant. Perhaps it's time to consider raising the difficulty further to keep it interesting?
Yeah, I'm thinking about that. My current idea for a workaround is instead to set my riders' goals in a way that it's impossible for them to get fitness peaks. Because I feel like the difficulty actually works fine in general, what makes my riders slightly OP is that they consistently have daily forms of +4 and +5 and never any bad days. Gaudu at Paris-Nice is a good example to avoid that: His early season objective is LBL, and he had a little bad luck with daily form, so he wasn't able to compete with the best.
I'm a bit further in the season already and about to start the Giro, where I unintentionally messed up the goal setting for Latour, so he enters the race in good shape but without the fitness peak. I'll see how that goes. I think with the possibility of bad days and +3 to +5 being the exception, we could have a good balance and most importantly some variance.
Curious what you think about it guys, so let me know
purepasd wrote:
Very dominant. Perhaps it's time to consider raising the difficulty further to keep it interesting?
Yeah, I'm thinking about that. My current idea for a workaround is instead to set my riders' goals in a way that it's impossible for them to get fitness peaks. Because I feel like the difficulty actually works fine in general, what makes my riders slightly OP is that they consistently have daily forms of +4 and +5 and never any bad days. Gaudu at Paris-Nice is a good example to avoid that: His early season objective is LBL, and he had a little bad luck with daily form, so he wasn't able to compete with the best.
I'm a bit further in the season already and about to start the Giro, where I unintentionally messed up the goal setting for Latour, so he enters the race in good shape but without the fitness peak. I'll see how that goes. I think with the possibility of bad days and +3 to +5 being the exception, we could have a good balance and most importantly some variance.
Curious what you think about it guys, so let me know
To me, it seems better to up the difficulty, so that you can still be rewarded from micromanaging goals and fitness. It will be harder to obtain consistent results, but the occasional win where everything aligns feels so much better. It just seems strange to intentionally make planning mistakes to make it harder for yourself, instead of toughening the opposition and still being able to beat the game. But if you want to try your method, absolutely feel free to do so
If you use PCM Career Explorer you can fix the fitness schedule and race planning of AI teams. I find this helps smaller races have more competition. And even races like Strade or OHN have much better startlists. I think you might have to do it on JAN 1st in your save though, so maybe only possible for future seasons.
valverde321 wrote:
If you use PCM Career Explorer you can fix the fitness schedule and race planning of AI teams. I find this helps smaller races have more competition. And even races like Strade or OHN have much better startlists. I think you might have to do it on JAN 1st in your save though, so maybe only possible for future seasons.
That's an interesting tool, I'll look into it, thank you
@Shonak: That would be a very, very last resort
@purepasd: I'll think about it further, thanks for the input. I just think that it would make races more interesting to have more variance, with the possibility of bad days (and the additional strategic challenge that comes with them) but also the option to actually dominate if I have one or two good days, and more realistic as well. I understand that it's weird to torpedo myself, but reaching fitness peaks isn't all that difficult, so it's not totally rewarding either. We'll see
Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne | 25.03.2021
C. Laporte
A. Petit
H. Desbordes
L. Duchemin
T. Boudat
D. Touzé
P. Périchon
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
2.
Giacomo Nizzolo
NTT Pro Cycling
3.
Daniel McLay
Team Arkéa - Samsic
1.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h37’32
2.
Arnaud Démare
Groupama – FDJ
s.t.
3.
Matteo Trentin
CCC Team
s.t.
4.
Hugo Hofstetter
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
5.
Jasha Sütterlin
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Keukeleire is ill with gastro-entitis, but Laporte is the title holder from last year, so we felt comfortable giving Jens a rest, hoping he’ll be able to recover in time for De Ronde and Paris - Roubaix. Even without him, we were able to show our newfound depth in this area. Damien Touzé has taken another step forward and had a terrific day, and then Adrien Petit neutralized every single attack within the final kilometers to set Christophe up to defend his title as he beat out Arnaud Démare in the concluding sprint.
E3 BinckBank Classic | 27.03.2021
J. Keukeleire
A. Petit
H. Desbordes
L. Duchemin
C. Laporte
T. Boudat
D. Touzé
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Edvald Boasson Hagen
NTT Pro Cycling
2.
Jens Debusschere
B&B Hotels – Vital Concept
3.
Oliver Naesen
Ag2r La Mondiale
…
15.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1.
Nils Politt
BORA - hansgrohe
5h33’21
2.
Oliver Naesen
Ag2r La Mondiale
+ 26
3.
Gianni Moscon
Team Ineos
+ 34
4.
Mike Teunissen
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
5.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
A group of 28 made it through the cobbles and hills and we still had Laporte and the quickly-recovered Keukeleire there, so we felt good. But attacks kept coming and coming and Keukeleire soon proved not to be at 100% yet. Laporte tried to hang on as good as he could, but he had to trust the others to catch all the attackers. In the end, Politt (at least for now besting his BORA predecessor Sagan) and Naesen were successful escapees, but Laporte finished third in the sprint of the rest, a massive improvement over last year’s 15th.
Gent - Wevelgem | 29.03.2021
C. Laporte
A. Petit
H. Desbordes
L. Duchemin
T. Boudat
D. Touzé
M. Mathis
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
2.
Giacomo Nizzolo
NTT Pro Cycling
3.
Daniel McLay
Team Arkéa - Samsic
1.
Sep Vanmarcke
EF Pro Cycling
6h30’47
2.
Dylan Van Baarle
Team Ineos
s.t.
3.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
4.
Alexander Kristoff
Groupama - FDJ
+ 27
5.
John Degenkolb
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
6.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Keukeleire had a very up and down week health-wise, not feeling well again for GW. So we relied on the combination of Petit and Laporte. Unfortunately, that led us to try and neutralize all late attacks, which we weren’t ultimately able to. Petit was our last man standing, who would have been better off joining the successful move. He still finished third from the main group, but this was not the optimum for us.
Cofidis Continental Race Highlights - March
Win
Royal Bernard Drome Classic
Christophe Laporte
Win
Le Samyn
Elia Viviani
Win
Settimana Coppi e Bartali, Stage 5
Anthony Perez
2nd
Grote prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré
Elia Viviani
2nd
GP de Denain - Porte du Hainaut
Jens Keukeleire
3rd
Faun-Ardèche Classic
Pierre Latour
3rd
Classic Loire Atlantique
Pierre-Luc Périchon
Two strong wins for Laporte and Viviani. In addition to the Driedaagse, the Royal Bernard Drome Classic is the second race where we defended our title this month, as Simone Consonni won it last year. Perez and Périchon get to shine on the continental scene as well, which I always appreciate. On a side-note, Pierre Latour’s good 3rd place was at a race won by Guillaume Martin, his first major result as an Ag2r rider.
Laport on a roll and some great season form, also saving the results when keukeleir was not up to it. Hopefully Keukeleire comes into form for Ronde and Roubaix because it is unlikely that Laporte can get punch above his weight in those races.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Laporte took a break after Gent - Wevelgem, so if Keukeleire wouldn't make it in time, Adrien Petit is the next man up. Luckily, he did recover
Dwars Door Vlaanderen | 01.04.2021
J. Keukeleire
A. Petit
H. Desbordes
L. Duchemin
P. Périchon
J. Herrada
A. Viviani
Same squad for all three races
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
2.
Luke Rowe
Team Ineos
3.
Frederik Backaert
B&B Hotels - Vital Concept
…
15.
Christophe Laporte
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1.
Dries Van Gestel
Team Total Direct Energie
5h27‘50
2.
Sebastian Langeveld
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
3.
Luke Durbridge
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
4.
Aimé De Gendt
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
5.
Jelle Wallaeys
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
…
10.
Adrien Petit
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 4’32
Jens Keukeleire had a puncture at a very unfortunate time and was out of contention then and there. Adrien Petit took over and did reasonably well, but it was his lack of uphill skills that eventually prevented him from doing better than 10th in a frankly mediocre field.
Ronde Van Vlaanderen | 05.04.2021
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
2.
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
3.
Niki Terpstra
Team Total Direct Energie
…
26.
Dimitri Claeys
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1.
Oliver Naesen
Ag2r La Mondiale
6h35‘12
2.
Mathieu Van der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
s.t.
3.
Sep Vanmarcke
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
4.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
5.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 22
…
9.
Jens Keukeleire
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3’45
Previous results on cobbles hadn't been too encouraging, but Jens hit his peak at just the right time. He was in the right group with nine of the very best cobblers and lost contact only at the very last ascent. Quite the improvement from last year’s 26th place. Shoutout to rookie Henry Desbordes, who was a very good domestique for a long time and finished his first cobblestone monument 44th.
Paris - Roubaix | 12.04.2021
Previous Results
Spoiler
2020
1.
Jasper Stuyven
Trek - Segafredo
2.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
3.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
…
19.
Dimitri Claeys
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
1.
Alberto Bettiol
Trek - Segafredo
6h30‘44
2.
Zdenek Stybar
Deceuninck-Quick Step
s.t.
3.
Mike Teunissen
EF Pro Cycling
s.t.
4.
Stefan Küng
Groupama - FDJ
s.t.
5.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
…
10.
Jens Keukeleire
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 2’07
This was one of our most important sponsor goals - a Top 10 was asked of us. Jens had achieved that a week before, and he had just enough of a good day to pull it off again. Once more, he was in the final selection inside the last 10 kilometers. This time, it wasn’t his stamina but his tire that held him back.
When he was rolling again, he got together with Mathieu Van der Poel who had lost touch earlier. Riding a steady pace to the finish, they swept up an exhausted Nils Politt on the way. That trio sprinted for positions 9-11, and luckily Jens was faster than the German to achieve the goal. Adrien Petit also did very well, finishing 13th, as Alberto Bettiol gets his second monument win after De Ronde in 2019.