Slotting neatly into the midweek spot once occupied by Gent-Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs seems to mark the threshold between stewing over the whys and wherefores of the Tour of Flanders just past and considering afresh the possibilities offered by Paris-Roubaix at the weekend.
Team Sky, certainly, are among the outfits glad to put the Ronde behind them. The men in black arrived in Bruges on a high following Geraint Thomas’ triumph at E3 Harelbeke, but despite spending the bulk of the afternoon controlling affairs on the front of the race, they came away from the finish in Oudenaarde empty-handed.
“There was a bit of a sad feeling that G [Thomas] didn’t get up there and we’d put in all of that hard work to help him but I think as a team we rode really well and really took on the race,” Ian Stannard told Cyclingnews in Antwerp on Wednesday morning ahead of Scheldeprijs. “Everything was perfect apart from the end and I think G was pretty much marked out of the race.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Sky’s Classics unit was often subject to robust criticism over the first five years of the team’s existence, but the early weeks of this season suggested that they had found a way to transfer their philosophy to the rough and tumble of the pavé. Stannard set the ball rolling by seeing off no fewer than three Etixx-QuickStep riders to win a dramatic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, before Thomas dispatched of Peter Sagan and Zdenek Stybar to win in Harelbeke, but there was familiar reproach for their tactics after the Tour of Flanders setback.
“At the end of the day we were at the front on every small road, on every climb. We were always in the right position,” Stannard said. “You can’t go into those roads in 30th or 40th position because you’re expending a lot more energy. I think we rode it pretty well, and people can say what they want to be honest. They’re not the ones on a bike doing it. It’s easy when you’re sat on a couch in front of a TV.”
Wiggins to lead at Paris-Roubaix
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1y6A2yS
No comments:
Post a Comment