Elia Viviani (Team Sky) was unable to come past Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) in the high-speed sprint finish at Scheldeprijs, but he tried to cancel the bitter taste of defeat with the knowledge that he had again shown he is competitive with the best sprinters in the world.
Scheldeprijs is one of the true sprinters' Classics of the spring, and Viviani beat Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) in the fast sprint. Only Kittel had been better-placed and faster in sight of the line, taking his fifth victory in the mid-week Belgian race.
"I’m never happy to finish second, because it's also my sixth second place the season and a lot of time they were behind the guys from Quick-Step. It means they’ve got some super strong sprinters. All we can do is keep trying to beat them," Viviani said defiantly after the podium ceremony.
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"This second place at Scheldeprijs hurts a little less than the others because this is a real sprinter’s classic and it was a fast finish after 200km of racing."
Viviani stayed well protected on the wheels for most of the race, only moving up close to the front in the final 10 kilometres, with Team Sky hitting the front after Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) did a long turn as he completed his last race on Flemish soil. Being at the front helped Viviani avoid the late crash and the subsequent split.
Team Sky's Jon Dibben lead out the sprint, with Viviani tucked on Kittel’s wheel. If the German had gone wide on the gradual curving finish, Viviani could have had a chance, but the German’s experience has taught him that the inside line is vital to victory.
A sprinter's race programme, not the Classics
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