There was plenty to celebrate about the 2023 Tour of Flanders men's race, with Tadej Pogačar's spectacular performance, Mathieu van der Poel's fourth straight podium, but even Van der Poel was unimpressed with one moment in the race: Team DSM's tactics on the Kortekeer with 126 kilometres to go.
John Degenkolb and four teammates amassed at the front of the peloton as the early breakaway held a six-minute lead and proceeded to go at such a slow pace that some riders toward the back were forced to put a foot down. Then, over the top, they accelerated sharply.
Van der Poel commented on a video of the moment with a sarcastic "Chapeau Team DSM" on Twitter, while commentators decried the tactic - also employed by Trek-Segafredo during Dwars door Vlaanderen on the same climb. The move adds to the stress in the peloton, forcing riders to take risks in the scramble to close the gaps caused by the whiplash acceleration. Eddy Merckx called it "dangerous".
Cyclingnews columnist Fabian Cancellara also noted the tactic and the absence of any Team DSM riders at the top of the results sheet.
"A footnote, that was quite a special move from DSM, going so slow on the Kortekeer and then sprinting. Nice try, but in the end I saw no DSM at all in the front," he wrote.
Such a tactic is relatively new, with Sporza pointing out that Team Sky employing it during the 2019 Tour of Flanders.
John Degenkolb tangentially addressed the team's move in his post-race comments. The team lost the long fight to get into the breakaway, "so we looked to our positioning going into the key moments of the race and tried to control the speed just the same as Trek-Segafredo did at the same point on Wednesday [at Dwars door Vlaanderen]. It was also a chance for us to try and save some energy for later and then also try to play our cards."
Chapeau @TeamDSM 👏🏻 https://t.co/yJcWCpq6qQApril 2, 2023
