Etixx-QuickStep entered the Tour of Flanders with the clear objective of claiming victory in the 100th edition of the race. The team has been a dominant force over the cobbles under the stewardship of Patrick Lefereve but its 2016 malaise continued in De Ronde.
The Belgian team are yet to finish on the podium in this classics campaign with Lefereve explaining on the eve of Flanders it's not due to any 'tactical' shortcomings.
"For me, we haven't been beaten tactically. We've been beaten physically but I haven't seen any team that's stronger than us," Lefevere said. "With the strength of the team we have, we need to isolate the other leaders. The more riders you have up there, the more chances you have."
ADVERTISEMENT
Zdenek Stybar was the best of the men in blue as he finished in eighth place, one place better than his performance of 12-months ago when his dentures rattled out of his mouth on the Kwaremont. Niki Terpstra finished in the same group as Stybar to make it two in the top-ten with Stijn Vandenbergh (13th) and Tom Boonen (15th) a handful of seconds slower.
"The moment where he went with Kwiatko we were there in front," Stybar said of the moment when race winner Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) made his move. "Stijn was up front which was ideal for us but there was nobody to close the gap."
Etixx-Quick Step had been active with Tony Martin busy on the front of the peloton and Vandenbergh heading up the road on the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremount to take the burden of chasing off his teammates.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1W5ODnO
No comments:
Post a Comment