Oliver Naesen has hit out at people criticising his performance, and that of his new AG2R Citroën team mate Greg Van Avermaet, saying some of those commenting negatively on social media were slobs on sofas.
He also felt there was significant favouritism being shown towards Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert at present.
But the Belgian suggested if other riders were beaten by Van der Poel and Van Aert it did not mean they weren't good bike riders. Instead, Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), Van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) were at a level not seen in a decade.
Naesen’s best result so far this year was 4th in E3 Saxo Bank Classic (1.UWT), won by Kasper Asgreen after the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider had been on a long solo breakaway, got caught and attacked solo again to win.
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Van Avermaet was 6th in the race and afterwards the two
Belgian AG2R Citroën riders were criticised for being outsmarted by Asgreen and
allowing him attack to win after their group had already caught him.
"I should actually delete all social media," Naesen told Sporza of the reaction after E3 Saxo Bank Classic, adding if he and Van Avermaet shirked work at times to ride smart they were critcised. But if they worked in a group, they were also critcised.
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“If you ride full gas for all you are worth, without using your mind, then you have illiterates online calling you stupid," he said. "Or you use your mind - but you still do your part of the work - and you have the slobs on the sofa that will call you lazy.”
He explained he was on the limit when Asgreen attacked to ride away and win the race and insisted the Danish rider deserved to win as he was the strongest.
"There was indeed quite a lot of criticism, but I didn't think (our result) was that bad. Greg was criticised for not helping Wout and Mathieu when I went for it, which is incomprehensible.
"We didn't help much between Kwaremont and Varentstraat, but that is barely 5 kilometres. Then we drove full throttle with Mathieu. Wout was behind.”
He said “of course” Van Aert is the “darling of Flanders” so by working with Van der Poel while Van Aert was behind, that was seen as “naughty” in the eyes of some.
"You read online that you are the worst driver in the world,” he said.
"I don't really care about that criticism, but everyone is such a fan of
Wout and Mathieu that whatever you do outside (of a scenario where they win) is
wrong.
"We were there - we were 4th and 6th in E3, one of the toughest races of the year. It's not that you are the worst rider in the world, which you read online afterwards. But apparently that's how it works."
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