After his display of supreme dominance at the E3 Classic on Friday, much of the talk going into Gent-Wevelgem was around whether or not Mathieu van der Poel was beatable. Last year, the question was how do you disrupt the winning machine that was Visma-Lease a Bike. This year, it's the Classics winning double act of Jasper Philipsen and the reigning world champion.
Mads Pedersen and his teammates answered that question in some style last weekend. It had been evident that Lidl-Trek had a battle plan in place for the Classics. Signs of it coming to life were clear at Milan-San Remo, it was fine tuned at E3, and it came together perfectly on Sunday.
One rider's, or team’s, dominance in any field of racing can make for a somewhat dull affair for those watching on. Fortunately, Lidl-Trek seem to have grabbed their newfound status with both hands and look capable of upsetting the proverbial apple cart in both the men’s and women’s pelotons in the weeks and races to come.
Elisa Balsamo has already underlined her status as chief SD Worx disruptor and it looks like Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven are set to follow suit in the men’s field in the coming weeks too.
As well as this, we have picked out some other plotlines to follow in the coming fortnight once the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix arrive.
Visma-Lease a Bike weakened by Laporte absence
The reigning European champion, Christophe Laporte, proved himself to be instrumental in much of his team’s Classic success last year. Since joining from Cofidis, Laporte has become a vital cog in the Visma-Lease a Bike machine and a key ally to the likes of Wout van Aert as they go in search of Flanders and Roubaix victory.
The team announced on Monday that Laporte has been ruled out of Dwars door Vlaanderen, a race he won last year, and the Tour of Flanders this week in what will come as a hammer blow to Van Aert’s big plans.
According to Visma-Lease a Bike, Laporte is suffering with a stomach bug as well as a problematic saddle sore.
Since winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Opening Weekend, the team has struggled to reassert its dominance in the races that followed. A spate of illness and injury affecting key riders has been the main issue and Laporte’s condition will only add to their woes.
The Frenchman will have been one rider earmarked to be last man standing alongside Van Aert in terms of teammates when the sharp end of both upcoming Monuments arrives.
Laporte’s absence will only add to the expectation already on the shoulders of recently crowned Paris-Nice champion, Matteo Jorgenson. He’s the man that we predict will be highlighted as Van Aert's potential right hand man instead.
Lidl-Trek continue to flex their tactical muscles
Numbers is the key, according to Lidl-Trek, combined with experience if you want to isolate and ultimately beat Van der Poel in his own backyard this Spring.
The American team had both in abundance last weekend and the core of the squad will almost certainly stay the same for both Flanders and Roubaix.
In Stuyven and Pedersen, Trek have two riders as in sync as Alpecin-Deceuninck's Van der Poel and Philipsen and who are both just as willing as the Alpecin duo to bury themselves for one another, a quality not all teams are lucky to possess.
Expect to see their tactical plan continue to gather momentum as the Classics roll on. It was evident that it was starting to build at San Remo, and has all the qualities to reach the perfect crescendo in the Roubaix velodrome soon.
FDJ-Suez and Movistar look to upset the favourites
After watching Lidl-Trek of late in the women’s peloton, Sunday showed that other teams are starting to take note of where the likes of SD Worx-Protime may be fallible.
The general consensus seems to be to go long in order to put them under pressure, or ignite the final kilometres as SD Worx look to assemble their sprint train for Lorena Wiebes. Both Movistar and FDJ-Suez threw caution to the wind and did just that in the closing stages of Sunday’s women’s edition of Gent-Wevelgem.
Wiebes got the win, but ultimately she was made to work for it. Firstly Emma Norsgaard and Floortje Mackaij got up the road in a bid to shake things up and force some of the favourites teams to chase. Once they were brought back in, FDJ did similar and launched Grace Brown on the attack with just under three kilometres to the line.
Brown is a strong time triallist, capable of going early and making a move stick. Her attack will have set alarm bells ringing amongst the SD Worx leadout train. Ultimately, it wasn’t to be, but even if it's not Brown, others will have been buoyed by Movistar and FDJ’s tactics last weekend and may try similar to stop Kopecky in both Flanders and Roubaix.
Laurence Pithie continues to grow in confidence
Even before he pulled on the race leader’s yellow jersey at Paris-Nice, Kiwi Laurence Pithie was already being talked up as a potential Classics future star.
At the race to the sun, the Groupama-FDJ rider backed up his abilities on the bike with his eloquence off it and similarly to the likes of Remco Evenepoel at an early age, he already seemed perfectly comfortable in the spotlight of elite level bike racing.
Pithie backed that up last weekend at Gent-Wevelgem, getting amongst it and chucking his weight around against the likes of Van der Poel and Pedersen as they looked to contest the win. He looked right at home too and not at all fazed by the calibre of rider he was up against.
The New Zealander faded as the race reached its conclusion but will be high on confidence after such a performance. Groupama FDJ appear to have found their ideal Classics man to sit alongside Stefan Küng as their best hope of victory in these settings on the cobbles.
Alongside up and coming British pro Sam Watson, the French team could have quite some firepower in the races to come.
Puck Pieterse takes aim at Monument victory
Off-road star Puck Pieterse is still relatively new to road racing, but is already showing herself to be quite the match for some of the disciplines biggest names.
The Dutch rider finished seventh at Gent-Wevelgem, her longest road race to date, and has already started to talk herself up as a potential Flanders winner. Pieterse has already podiumed this season against Lotte Kopecky, Elisa Balsamo and Wiebes and shown that she is well at home on the WorldTour.
Flanders is set to be her last appearance of the Classics season before she switches her focus to the Paris Olympics and she told Cyclingnews that she has her eye on the top step of the podium for her final outing this year.
“With how it’s going now, of course, you have to dream of the highest and I think we have a really good team,” she said.
“We worked really well together here at Gent-Wevelgem, so I think even winning is possible.”
