Jordi Meeus confronts Christophe Laporte after Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s In Flanders Fields plan unravels
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The fact that Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert were caught in the closing phase of In Flanders Fields on Sunday was largely down to the efforts of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. The German team had chosen to back Jordi Meeus, but in the streets of Wevelgem the Belgian never even got the chance to launch his sprint.
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At the finish, IDL was able to catch up with Mick van Dijke, who explained the team’s intended plan. “The idea was to sprint with Jordi, so for us it was mainly about following the moves and not contributing to the chase ourselves.”
“Basically, everyone had to stay in their box, although Tim was allowed to go if the really big names moved,” Van Dijke continued. “It was a very hard day anyway, especially with the echelons early on. After De Moeren, I already had to do a big turn on the front.”
“I felt super good, but we had our tactics,” Van Dijke said. “Heading into the second time up the Kemmelberg, I had to position the guys, and then you know you’re not going to make it over with them anymore.”
After that, it was up to brother Tim, Gianni Vermeersch and Laurence Pithie to help close the gap to Van der Poel and Van Aert, alongside the riders from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. While the French team were rewarded with second place for Tobias Lund Andresen, Meeus had to settle for 36th. The late race itself ended with Jasper Philipsen taking victory after Van der Poel and Van Aert were reeled in just before the line.
Continue reading below the photo.
Tim van Dijke and Gianni Vermeersch rode in the lead for a long time.
Meeus goes to Laporte for answers
“I heard over the radio that Jordi hadn’t been able to sprint, so that was really frustrating,” Van Dijke said at the finish. Meeus was pushed toward the barriers in a movement in the bunch and crossed the line slamming his hands on the bars, after which he made his way over to Christophe Laporte to ask what had happened.
Read on below the video!
The Frenchman from Visma | Lease a Bike had made contact with Meeus, whose chain then came off, but Laporte did not appear to believe there had been any intent. “Race incident,” was effectively his explanation to his rival. “I didn’t expect we would come back, but Decathlon and BORA closed it with six riders, so in the end it still became a sprint,” he said afterwards via CyclingProNet.
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Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!
Contact: [email protected]
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