Overhead footage of the winning sprint at Sunday’s Gent Wevelgem shows the crucial role Fernando Gaviria played, even though he was not placed.
Instead it was his UAE Team Emirates team mate Alexander Kristoff who surged ahead in the sprint.
The big Norwegian took his second win of the season and his first ever at Gent Wevelgem.
In the sprint Kristoff took up position close to the front of the group. Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was on his wheel.
The Italian would have been everybody’s favourite at that point given his recent form.
However, Gaviria was just behind Viviani and overtook him up the inside just before the sprint hit maximum speed.
When he nudged just ahead of Viviani, Gaviria then moved to his right and bumped the Italian off Kristoff’s wheel.
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That caused Viviani to wobble a little and his sprint was over. Gaviria also sat up and Kristoff powered to win.
Robbie McEwan, the former top sprinter who shared the clip, below, has dubbed Gaviria's move "the reverse lead-out".
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While Gaviria’s physicality was not unusual, it is more traditional to see a rider bumping a rival in a bid to improve his own chances rather than a team mate’s.
Viviani, who was in tears last year when beaten to victory by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe). faded to 19th with Gaviria 21st.
Afterwards, Elia Viviani commented on the way Gaviria had ridden. But he was diplomatic.
“I focused on Kristoff’s wheel because I saw he could be the strongest,” Viviani said of the run-in.
“The moment he went, Fernando came from the left and he just went on his wheel and stopped.
“Kristoff had a free way to go. I was there in the middle, so I just stopped pedaling with 200m to go.”
Here's how it starts: Viviani is circled in blue, on the wheel of Kristoff (circled in red). The rider just behind Viviani and to his left is Gaviria, also circled in red.
Kristoff is circled in red and he is just unleashing his full sprint and about to hit the very front, and go on to win. Behind him, Gaviria (red arrow) has now overtaken Viviani (blue arrow) up the inside. Gaviria then moves slightly to his right and into Viviani. The door is closed on Viviani to such an extent that in this shot he's wobbling a little bit and looks like he may fall. From this point on, Kristoff lets rip all the way to the line. Gaviria sits up and Viviani's sprint is over having been interrupted by Gaviria moving in on him and knocking him of Kristoff's wheel.
Eurosport highlights Gent Wevelgem
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