Servais Knaven knows better than most that when riders from Patrick Lefevere’s team outnumber the rest in the finale of a cobbled classic, only one outcome is likely. After all, he was one of four Domo riders in the winning break of seven at Paris-Roubaix in 2001, and he duly slipped away to claim victory and lead a sweep of the podium for the Belgian squad.
On Saturday at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, then, Knaven must have had a sinking feeling as he sat in the Sky team car behind the decisive break and watched his man Ian Stannard outnumbered by three of Lefevere’s Etixx-QuickStep charges. One imagines that the Dutchman was able to offer plenty of insight but precious little consolation when Stannard dropped back to weigh up his prospects.
Yet remarkably, through a bizarre combination of spectacular Etixx missteps and sound decision-making from Stannard, the Englishman upset the odds and saw off Stijn Vandenbergh, Tom Boonen and finally Niki Terpstra to win the Omloop for the second successive year.
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Knaven’s glee on reaching the Team Sky bus in Ghent’s Sint-Pietersplein was apparent, though he insisted that he was never resigned to the idea that Stannard was simply racing to finish on the podium behind Etixx-QuickStep’s designated winner.
“I said to him that if the chasers were coming closer then he would have to start working, otherwise what else can he do but sit in the wheel? It’s a bike race and you want to win,” Knaven said. “I said if he had the legs then he could try to attack in the crosswind. He was a bit worried that if he did that he might lose everything but then they started attacking themselves. The only thing he could do was close the gaps and then he tried himself because sometimes the best defence is to attack.”
As befits a man who spent seven years as a rider on Lefevere’s team, Knaven was diplomatic when asked if he felt Etixx-QuickStep had made errors in the finale – “I’m not judging other riders from other teams,” he said – though he admitted that he did not expect Boonen to be the first attacker on the run-in.
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