Cosnefroy takes swipe at Vansevenant after Amstel: “He didn’t pull once”

Afterwards, Cosnefroy could live perfectly well with third place. According to him, there simply was not much more in it, he told Cyclsm Actu. “As they say, with ‘what ifs’ you can replay the race a thousand times. But unlike at Brabantse Pijl, I’m not disappointed. There, I could have won if I had launched my attack 300 meters from the finish. Today, the riders up front were already gone. They were stronger. I did my best to get a podium place.”

Although Cosnefroy was satisfied with his race, he also felt there had been room for improvement. “I lost my position just before the crucial point. And then, in the chase group, there are always riders who don’t work. That’s just part of it. But I do think Mauri [Vansevenant] could have helped a bit,” Cosnefroy said, offering a small criticism of his colleague. “He didn’t take a pull once; I asked him several times. Well, that’s how it goes. That’s the sport.”

“I think maybe that’s just his way of riding,” Cosnefroy continued. He was, however, full of praise for his compatriot Alex Baudin of EF Education-EasyPost. “Alex and I rode really well together, and we know each other very well. We live close to each other and sometimes train together. So we worked together as well as we could. But at a certain point, the fatigue started to hit. And on the final time up the Cauberg, I realized we were never going to get back to the front.”

While Cosnefroy spent the first races of the season mainly working for others, he has now had two opportunities for himself at Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race. The Frenchman said he had received plenty of questions from people asking when he would finally be given leadership duties. “But the team has always had confidence in me. You just have to match the right race with the right form, and at the start of the season I wasn’t in sparkling shape.”

“That comes race after race, and I think Tirreno-Adriatico also did me good,” Cosnefroy said. “And, well, at the Tour of Flanders I’m not a leader. That is completely normal, because I don’t have the profile for that. The team has always trusted me, and now it’s simply clicking because I’m in good form and the terrain suits me.”