Visma Liesavaik Shines in Onloop Hetnieuwsblad, Jan Tratnik Secures Victory in Spring Classic

Onloop HetNewsblad is taken over by Visma Liesavaik. He caused damage to his rivals with repeated attacks, leading to Jan Tratnik’s (Slovenia) first victory in the Spring Classic.
The leading candidate in the championship, Visma Liesavaik, takes the stage for the presentation photo: CorVos
Jan Tratnik awaits the start (Visma Riesabijk, Slovenia) photo: CorVos Wout van Aert (Belgium, Wisma Riesabijk) and Arnaud Dury (Lot Destiny, Belgium) photo: CorVos

After passing through warm regions such as Oceania, South America, Southern Europe and the Middle East, the “Northern Classic” season has finally begun. The 79th Onloop Hetnieuwsblad (UCI World Tour), a race of tradition and formality, took place in the city of Ghent, Belgium, on an overcast day with a temperature of 6 degrees Celsius.

Since 2018, the 202.2 km route connecting Ghent to Ninove has adopted a route that follows the finish of the Rond van Vlaanderen, and has 12 climbs and 9 cobbled “sectors” including “Reberg”, “Berendry” and Fossen”. Climbs such as “Hall”, “Mühl Kapelmuhl” and “Bossberg” will appear in the second half of the race. Although conditions were wet at the start, road conditions improved as the race progressed.

Visma Liesavaik tries to accelerate the pace photo: CorVos
Julien Alaphilippe (France, Soudal Quick-Step), who was not involved in the development and fell from the car photo: CorVos
It was Visma Liesavaik who faced this highly prestigious battle with overwhelming strength. The yellow team, aiming for a third consecutive championship, includes last year’s winner Wout van Aert (Belgium) and last year’s winner Dylan Van Baare (Netherlands), and also includes former U23 world champion Samuele Battistella (Italy , Astana Kazakhstan). Controlled 9 people running away with a time difference of about 5 minutes. Then, before completing 100km from the start, there was a large split in the main group due to the increase in speed.

In the group of 23, selected only from the strongest, Wisma Liesabijk included the maximum number of five people (van Aert, Laporte, Bennote, Jorgenson), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain). , Ineos Grenadiers) and Arnaud Dury (Belgium, Lotto Destiny) also joined. However, Stefan Küng (Switzerland, Groupama FDJ) and Julien Alaphilippe (France, Soudal Quick-Step) were unable to make this move.

Matteo Jorgenson soloing Mule Kapelmuhl (USA, Wisma Liesabijk) photo: CorVos
Arnaud Dury (Belgium, Lotto Destiny) leads a group of 6 people photo: CorVos
In the lead group that absorbed the breakaway group and chased the main group, it was Visma who took the initiative. In Wolfenberg (climb distance 700/maximum 13.8%) near the final 50km, Matteo Jorgenson (USA) stretched the peloton and, after clearing the summit, Van Aert and Christophe Laporte (France) continued to attack . Rapid waves of attacks left only six survivors: Visma, van Aert, Laporte and Jorgenson, Dooley, Pidcock and Toms Skuins (Latvia, Riddle Trek).

30 km to go. In “Berendry (uphill distance 1000 m/maximum 10.5%)”, Skuinsch tried to organize a race, saying: “I knew it would be hard, but I wanted to run my own race”, but his attempt was thwarted by Van Aert’s pursuit. Then, Jorgenson attacked alone on a flat section with 21km to go.

In his first race since moving from Movistar to Wisma, Jorgenson climbed the Flemish icon Mühl Kapelmühl (officially known as Mühl van Gerardsbergen, distance 1200m) with a lead of 25-30 seconds. , the trailing group with Dooley chasing desperately, the lead closing behind, closing the distance. Ultimately, Jorgenson’s solo ride ended after overtaking Bosberg at the final 12km.

Tratnik and Nils Politz (Germany, UAE Team Emirates) breaking away on the flat section in the final stages photo: CorVos
Jan Tratnik (Slovenia, Visma Liesavajk) who won the sprint match with Politz photo: CorVos
From here to the finish line it’s just flat. Laporte crushed the attack of Tim Wellens (Belgium, UAE Team Emirates), who had moved to the front from the main group, and Jan Tratnik (Slovenia), also from the main group, accelerated on the counterattack. With the exception of Nils Pollitz (Germany, UAE Team Emirates), who was the only one following, Jumbo’s rival teams could not move without looking at each other.

After taking a break, the members left behind at “Bossberg” returned to the next group, and Lot Destiny set up a pursuit system, but due to the movement of the Yumbo group behind them, which blocked the rotation, the main group he managed to save his legs. The distance between the two people fleeing does not reduce. Eventually, the Rot Train also collapsed and it was decided that Tolatnik and Politz would escape.

With 1 km to go, Politz took the lead and Toratnik sprinted after saving his legs. Eight seconds after Tratnik achieved the biggest victory of his career over Politz, who failed to follow him, Van Aert took command of the next group, giving Visma a 1-3 victory.

Visma managed to send two people to the podium: CorVos
Jan Tratnik (Slovenia, Visma Lisavajk) who won his first Classic title photo: CorVos
“Throughout the race we believed in ourselves. We missed the first breakaway group and were worried that the Wouts were so strong that we couldn’t catch them. When we managed to get back to Bosberg, I launched an attack myself. “I was a a little worried about my sprinting ability, but Poritz ran fast and I had a chance,” said Tratnik. The 34-year-old, known as a great assistant, has already won a stage in the Giro d’Italia, but this is the first time he wins the Cobblestone Classic, which he hasn’t competed in very often. “I think it’s probably the biggest win of my career. Today my role was to race for the team, so I was surprised that it went like this. I think it was a complete victory for the team,” he added.

Van Aert, who finished third, said: “Today we tried to take the initiative as a team. We had Matteo attack before Kapellmuehle and cut the cards. The main group was also getting closer, but some of them… I felt at peace because Jan (Tratnik) and Dylan (Fanbaale) were both there. I actually had an advantage and it was a really good win.” Laporte also finished in 5th place and is likely to cause a stir in today’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne race, where the entire team will participate in back-to-back races.

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