The usual rock solid team work of Jumbo Visma was absent today at Strade Bianche, with Tiesj Benoot clearly annoyed that young team mate Attila Valter appeared to be chasing him down at one point. And though Benoot finished 3rd - behind Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) - he clearly wasn't happy.
“I had the legs to win today,” he told Sporza. “Now there is still some disappointment. Maybe tomorrow that disappointment might give way to pride.”
“We could have done better in the chase, although I made mistakes too. It was a mistake by both of us that no one was with Pidcock when he got away," Benoot said referring to himself and Valter. "I think we were both among the best riders in the race. We’ve proven that. It’s too bad we couldn’t capitalise on that in the end. We have to look at the course again together, during the course it is difficult to keep an overview."
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At one point, on the 10th gravel sector with about 18km remaining, the chasing group split and Benoot got clear with Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty). However, Valter then rode after them, with Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) just behind him. When Benoot looked back and saw Valter riding, as Mohorič and Simmons were trying to scramble onto his wheel, the Belgian threw his right hand up in frustration.
While Valter was, in fact, trying to bridge across on his own, his presence in between the groups definitely helped Mohorič and Simmons back on. And when all of the riders were together again, a little bit of the steam went out of the chase, falling into the hands of Pidcock.
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In a plot twist, Mohorič vented his annoyance after the race, saying if the Jumbo Visma riders had cooperated, the chasing group they were in would have caught Pidcock, who was just seconds ahead of them at one point.
Though the gap was brought right down, Valter was unwilling to put in a long pull on the front to close it, apparently for fear of giving up his chance. And that lack of team work allowed Pidcock to pull away again and get his gap back up to 30 seconds.
"What was wrong was that the Jumbo Visma riders did not understand each other," Mohorič said after finishing 6th, last of the five-rider chasing group behind Pidcock, who won after first attacking with about 45km to go.
Mohorič continued: "I think that (Benoot and Valter) each raced their own race instead of Attila, who was weaker - because he had already dropped 7 km before the finish line with me - sacrificing himself to catch Pidcock.
"Pidcock was indeed close. He was 20 seconds ahead of our group, which was very, very disjointed. We didn't cooperate with each other. Rui Costa and I were at the end of our strength, Madouos is French and also races with such logic. The two from Jumbo looked at each other a bit and attacked each other. It was very strange to me, because if Attila had caught (Pidcock) back, Tiesj Benoot would have had a chance to win."
Perhaps the most frustrating thing for Jumbo Visma was the small chasing group Benoot and Valter were in closed the gap to lone leader Pidcock at one point that they could almost reach out an touch him. One big effort from either of them would have brought Pidcock back, but it seemed like neither, especially Valter, wanted to close the gap for the other.
“That was my mistake,” Valter said. “I should have communicated better with Tiesj. If I compare myself with Nathan Van Hooydonck, I can still improve. Nathan has known Tiesj for some time and understands him better but Tiesj is a good leader. Give us a few more races together and it will go much better. It’s only my first race with him.”
“There were two of us in the front and we ended up on the podium,” Valter added with clear disappointment. "We have to do better for Jumbo's standards but I can be satisfied with my performance today. I finished fifth in just my second Strade Bianche.”
