Team Jumbo-Visma misses decisive battle in hectic Le Samyn

Team Jumbo-Visma misses decisive battle in hectic Le Samyn

Team Jumbo-Visma has not been able to compete for the victory in Le Samyn. In the 209 km long stage to Dour, they raced attentively for a long time but missed the decisive shift.

Michel Hessmann crashed on a cobbled section in the final and broke his left collarbone.

Immediately after the start, six riders formed the leading group of the day. The peloton increased the pace towards the local loop and the gap quickly closed due to the riders' efforts. After the peloton had caught the breakaway riders, a wave of attacks followed. Hessmann reacted attentively to the attempts and attacked as well, but he had to pass when an elite group broke away at 40 kilometres from the finish. Loe van Belle and Rick Pluimers then gave everything to catch the front group, but to no avail.

"The youngsters showed themselves well."

Marc Reef

“It was a hectic day”, sports director Marc Reef said. “We had quite a few setbacks, including crashes, punctures and bike changes. In the final we already had three guys riding between the cars. The rest were not in a position to go with the front group. We did try to get the chase going so we could make the jump and reach the riders in front, but we couldn’t really make a difference.”

“The youngsters showed themselves well”, said Reef. “Michel took the lead in the pre-final and Loe and Rick tried to close the gap. Lars Boven and Owen Geleijn were struck by bad luck. You can’t always prevent that. The men did well in this hectic and challenging race. They can build on this.”

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