"We don’t look like idiots here": Sports director backs Hagenes and ultra-young Visma | Lease a Bike squad

Hagenes had already made a big impression earlier in March with a long solo move at Le Samyn, only to be caught in the final kilometre. In Denain, it was breakaway companion Alec Segaert who paced his effort just a little better. The time trial specialist went on to win the cobbled race, while Hagenes faded and crossed the line behind the sprinting peloton, empty and disappointed.

Two near-misses in a short space of time for Hagenes, but sports director Robert Wagner refused to dwell on that in his conversation with IDLProCycling.com. ‘Our goal was very simple: to win. It always is. We came here with a very young group, with Ashlin Barry essentially riding his first professional race today. He delivered a really strong ride, even though he was still a junior last year.’

Wagner pointed to Barry’s presence in the breakaway, where the 18-year-old American raced with confidence and ‘did everything right’. ‘In the finale, he even worked for the team, covering and closing down several attacks. A big chapeau to him. As a team, we rode very strongly overall.’

Alongside Barry and Hagenes, Visma | Lease a Bike also saw strong performances from youngsters Matisse Van Kerckhove, Mattio Pietro and Axel Zingle. Loe van Belle crashed and had to be taken to hospital. ‘Hopefully it’s nothing serious, we’re going to pick him up shortly,’ Wagner said, before concluding: ‘Even without Wout van Aert, Timo Kielich or Christophe Laporte, we showed up here with a young team.’

‘I saw a very young, fantastic team. They did exactly what we agreed beforehand. We’ll take that with us, because it looked really good,’ said the German, who also pushed back against any criticism. ‘We’re in the team car, while people at home are watching from the couch. From there, everything always looks easy.’

So where does the criticism come from? Hagenes turned the final phase in Denain into a long one-on-one time trial. What if he had waited for Segaert—who was riding just behind him for a long time—and opted for a sprint? ‘Maybe then we’d be standing here looking like fools, asking why we didn’t wait,’ Wagner explained. ‘Per knew the gaps to both Segaert and the peloton.’

‘He knew Alec was close behind, but Per showed courage and absolutely didn’t want a sprint,’ Wagner continued in defence of his rider. ‘He wanted to go solo to the finish, and it says enough that Segaert called him the strongest on the cobbles today. Chapeau to Alec, by the way. Per went all-in, and we don’t look like idiots here.’

‘From my side, it’s only compliments for Per. It shows once again how big a step he has taken since last season. Now he should really look ahead to the upcoming classics—that’s what we’re excited about. We deliberately chose not to ride Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice, and Per is in superb form. He showed again today just how strong he is, but it was two kilometres too far.’

The Norwegian looks so strong that he may not necessarily have to settle for a domestique role for riders like Van Aert and Laporte, as initially planned after Le Samyn. ‘Per is definitely a card we hope to play, but everything has to fall into place. He’s showing he’s in excellent condition, and if he can take another small step after races like this, we can head into the classics with a lot of confidence.’

Bram van der Ploeg ( X: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])