What a race and report! Felt like a genuine MSR. Up until Bagioli was caught I really had no idea whether it was going to go to the sprinters or the puncheurs. Activity throughout and tons of ups and downs. Some of the teams acted logically too, like Fastned trying to make it hard, even if it ultimately didn't work out. Congrats to LLS and thanks to jt for a tremendous report!
I didn't know what to expect here, and there were a few times where it looked like we were going to be completely absent from the final (which would have certainly been the case if the puncheurs had their way), so in the end 13th isn't really a poor result. I certainly hoped for more once Pedersen got back to the front, but a 2022 type result was never really realistic. With our depth being atrocious, it's not much for us, but better than nothing.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Devastated for Bagioli. Such an exciting race though, always has felt like one of the best on the MG calendar to me. Report more than did it justice too.
Thanks for the stunning and exciting report, jt! And congrats to LLS for winning your first monument!
The only shame is we weren't involved at all in this finale and only got one rider into the top 100 (even if it's no surprise at all ...).
That went about as well as we could have hoped, though will always have to wonder if Peak could have pipped Groves there with slightly better positioning. 2nd would have been a better than expected result had we sent Gaviria here, so the gamble to send Peak instead definitely paid off.
Congrats LLS, welcome to the first-time monument winners club! And thanks to jt for an excellent report, really enjoyed reading it from what I thought was a neutral's perspective until Peak's late show!
Thanks for the great report! That was very tense to follow.
Feel like we played this race very well, with Gesbert following attacks and Dainese staying well placed in the peloton. 4th is a good result but also feels like this one was winnable with better timing.
Last year we had a great race here with Remco and Kron on the attack and Aniolkowski winning the sprint behind the attackers.
We once again tried to cover all angles and we succedeed to some extent as Remco was there with the attackers. But I hate that the game just ignores Aniolkowski (who I don't think was nowhere near the front as the race was closing down on the finish line as the report suggested ) here because of Zijlaard.
In the end, Zijlaard does save our season goal with a top 10 here, but I think we had potential to really do better than this in terms of points here.
) here because of Zijlaard.
