Disappointed Belgian Driesen has his doubts about the legitimacy of Barry's victory: 'They'll say I'm a sore loser'

Driesen arrived in Canada as one of the top favorites and found himself among a select group of powerhouse riders in the final. But Barry pulled ahead of them, and there was no catching him. “It’s pretty disappointing,” Driesen told Cycling Pro Net. “As a team, we rode a very strong race; it’s a shame we weren’t rewarded with a medal or more.”

The Belgians were up front from start to finish, but in the end, they just missed out on a medal. “I don’t think we were missing anything. It was a strange race: the five of us worked together, going full throttle. But we didn’t get any closer. That’s a little strange. But we gave it our all, so we can be happy with the race.”

Perhaps the strong early breakaway group—which included Barry as well as time trialist Kasper Egholm—was somewhat underestimated. “I never really worried,” the Belgian confirms. “Since it was such an early breakaway, I thought they’d naturally get caught and be pushing their limits. But he was very strong. I don’t know what happened, but well…”

There are still some critical remarks coming from Driesen. He expresses them more sharply in an interview with Sporza . “I felt good during the race, but apparently one rider was a lot stronger than the rest. Or maybe other things happened. I find it strange that the five of us were riding in a group and didn’t close the gap by even a second. Some people will say I’m a sore loser, but I still have my doubts.”

Because it certainly wasn't due to a lack of cooperation among the top favorites. "We were going full throttle, but after 13 laps, everyone was running on empty. We kept up a steady pace, and the group behind us couldn't catch up. But it wasn't enough to catch up to Ashlin Barry." The American ultimately finished 53 seconds ahead of his pursuers.

Belgium had another favorite in Matisse Van Kerckhove, but he got caught up in the pack. He finished sixteenth. “It was a really tough race. I didn’t know exactly what was happening up front, but I heard that Ashlin was there. As a team, we did pretty well. We took the initiative and were in every group—we can be satisfied with that.”

Van Kerckhove is a teammate of winner Barry on the Visma | Lease a Bike Development Team, and is therefore both disappointed as a Belgian and happy for his buddy. “On this long climb, we went all out every single time. No one wanted to keep riding in those small groups, so the pack always came back together. But Ashlin was so strong today—hats off to him.”