While the BMC team celebrated Greg Van Avermaet’s victory at Paris-Roubaix and Quick-Step Floors partied hard on Sunday night to say farewell to Tom Boonen, the atmosphere at Bora-Hansgrohe was far more sombre.
The crowds still packed around the team bus parked outside the Roubaix velodrome but there was an air of sadness, of disappointment, of regret. It summed up Peter Sagan’s and Bora-Hansgrohe’s spring campaign.
The new WorldTour team had set a goal of winning a Monument, convinced that Sagan could repeat his win at last year’s Tour of Flanders or do even better. As the dust settles on the cobbled Classics, Bora-Hansgrohe were left virtually empty handed and understandably a little frustrated. Sagan’s lustre has been dulled in recent weeks, with Greg Van Avermaet the new king of spring. During the cobbled Classics, Sagan created more headlines for his long hair and cryptic replies to questions than his results out on the road.
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Sagan’s natural swagger and huge talent often make winning look easy but as was to be expected, his biggest rivals raised their tactical game in the most important, most tactically complex races, often isolating Sagan, leaving him exposed and in difficulty. In reply, he occasionally became reckless, over generous, and was forced to personally make up for a lack of a strong team that could support him. His rivals also used that against him, as was the case when Michal Kwiatkowski made him drag the attack to the Via Roma and lead out the sprint. It was enough for the classy Polish rider to snatch victory.
Quick-Step Floors were happy to lead the psychological and physical battle in the cobbled Classics, using their strength in numbers to kick off the biggest and hardest races sooner than was deemed logical. It didn’t always come off – Gent-Wevelgem was an embarrassing disaster due to Nikki Terpstra’s negative tactics – but Philippe Gilbert won the Tour of Flanders and the team won the unofficial prize as team of the spring.
Sagan didn’t seem to have a reply to Quick-Step Floors’ multiple options and was exposed again and again. At the Tour of Flanders he was punished harshly for riding an inch too close to the barriers, losing any chance of victory. But what else could he do with Gilbert up the road and riding to victory? He had to risk everything and paid the ultimate price.
Time for a debrief
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