Saturday Roundup: Double Success for Visma in Omloop

Marianne Vos delivered Visma-Lease a Bike its sweep of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, about an hour after Jan Tratnik took the lads’s occasion in a two-up dash over Nils Politt. That was enjoyable sufficient, however for Vos, the day was purely magical, and an opportunity for Visma to flip the script.

After a decade of being the hunted, late-career Vos has change into the hunter, a veteran forbear for the brand new technology of younger stars. Like Lotte Kopecky, for instance, the Belgian star who’s at the moment decked out in rainbow stripes for the highly effective SD Worx staff — the Visma of the ladies’s peloton. Vos cleverly sniffed out the ambitions of Lidl-Trek, who had Elisa Longo Borghini up the highway after the Vossenhol, the place the Italian champ caught the day’s breakaway earlier than heading up the Muur van Geraardsbergen within the lead. After the anticipated carnage, the four-rider break emerged with Kopecky, Vos, and Longo Borghini’s younger teammate Shirin van Anrooij, the cyclocross star who was a late substitute.

This made for a fully sensible finale of racing. The 2 Treks had no likelihood of beating the highly effective Kopecky on the line, and proceeded to assault her relentlessly, taking turns accelerating from the again, opening a small hole, and forcing Kopecky to chase. Then swapping locations and going once more.

For Vos, this was a dream state of affairs. What number of years was she in Kopecky’s place, all eyes on her, all ways aimed toward her? On at the present time the ultra-decorated star may simply sit again and watch the battle rage, patiently ready for the maelstrom to spin itself out and provides her the opening she wanted. Vos by no means as soon as obtained out of place, by no means overreacted, forcing Kopecky to spend valuable power all through the final 10km. That left the foursome in a dash that Vos received simply, forward of Kopecky, with the 2 Treks taking about as valiant and wonderful a 3-4 end as you will notice.

Earlier, the lads’s race featured Visma within the catbird seat all day, with a number of riders on the free all through the ultimate 30km, settling for a two-man escape after the Bosberg, when Tratnik attacked and drew solely Politt for firm, a flotilla of mentally and bodily exhausted riders of their wake, with numerous Vismas like Wout Van Aert fortunately seeing their teammate strike on the right time. Tratnik prevailed within the dash with relative ease.

Oh, and their largest star, double Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, took a solo stage win on the Castelo de Ribadavia to increase his general lead within the O Gran Camiño stage race, which ends tomorrow with Vingegaard pretty certain to safe the victory. Visma didn’t handle a clear sweep on the day, although, as Soudal Fast Step’s Tim Merlier received the dash in UAE for the third time in 4 tries, with Juan Ayuso of UAE taking the Faun Ardèche traditional in France over Romain Gregoire.