
It has not been the start to a season that most have come to expect from Dutch men’s super-team Visma-Lease a Bike, and things got worse for the squad at Omloop Nieuwsblad as young British sprinter Matthew Brennan pulled-out after falling heavily with 19km to go.
Brennan had been talked-up ahead of the race as the team’s leader following Wout van Aert’s withdrawal due to illness, but the 20-year-old was one of several riders in the chasing group to come down in greasy conditions on the approach to the Muur van Geraardsbergen. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) went on to win the race in dominant fashion, with Visma-Lease a Bike’s Christophe Laporte crossing the line in fourth.