2024-02-24 15:06:56
Published on February 24, 2024 at 4:06 p.m. – updated on February 24, 2024 at 4:10 p.m.
After excellent work from his Visma-Lease a Bike team, Slovenian Jan Tratnik won the Circuit Het Nieuwsblad, the first major Belgian classic of the season. Julian Alaphilippe fell twice.
Visma-Lease a Bike changed its name over the winter, but the old Jumbo-Visma team is still as impressive as ever! Determined to win the first major Belgian classic of the season, the Dutch team showed itself throughout this Circuit Het Nieuwsblad and its 202 kilometers. And she was rewarded with the victory of Slovenian Jan Tratnik! The day following his 34th birthday, the native of Ljubljana scored the twelfth victory of his career, the third on the World Tour (following the prologue of the 2019 Tour de Romandie and a stage of the 2020 Giro).
Black day for Alaphilippe
In this race with eight cobbled sectors (for a total of 13.5km), the race was launched from the start with a breakaway of nine runners, including Frenchman Alexis Gougeard. But behind, Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers set a rhythmic pace, so much so that following 70 kilometers of racing, the main peloton only had 23 riders left, and Matej Mohoric, Dylan Van Baarle, Julian Alaphilippe and Biniam Girmay were among the trapped runners. The peloton rejoined the breakaways twenty kilometers later. Visma-Lease a Bike, Ineos Grenadiers and Lidl-Trek, with four riders each, were then in numerical superiority. Behind, Julian Alaphilippe suffered his first fall of the day and was definitely out of contention for victory. The Frenchman suffered a second fall 23 kilometers from the line, with Kasper Asgreen and Florian Sénéchal. A decidedly dark day for the former double world champion, who hoped to respond, with a good result, to the criticisms of his boss Patrick Lefévère.
Three Visma-Lease a Bike in the Top 5
Ahead, the last 25 kilometers were driven by the Yellow and Black of Visma-Lease a Bike. It was first the French European champion Christophe Laporte who tried his luck, soon joined by Tom Pidcock. Then it was Matteo Jorgenson who accelerated to take a few hectometers in advance, before giving way to Jan Tratnik, followed by another UAE Emirates runner, Nils Politt. The two men traveled the last eight kilometers together, and no one managed to join them. Jan Tratnik made one last acceleration to take the victory. His teammate Wout Van Aert completes the podium and Christophe Laporte takes fifth place.
WORLD TOUR / CIRCUIT HET NEWSBLAD
Final classification (Ghent – Ninove, 202km) – Saturday February 24, 2024
1- Jan Tratnik (SLO/Visma-Lease a Bike) one 4h31’27
2- Nils Politt (ALL/UAE Emirates) at 3″
3- Wout Van Aert (BEL/Visma-Lease a Bike) à 8″
4- Oliver Naesen (BEL/Décathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) at 8″
5- Christophe Laporte (FRA/Visma-Lease a Bike) at 8″
6- Laurenz Rex (BEL/Intermarché-Wanty) at 8″
7- Jasper Stuyven (BEL/Lidl-Trek) à 8″
8- Tom Pidcock (GBR/Ineos Grenadiers) at 8″
9- Matteo Trentin (ITA/Tudor) at 8″
10- Arnaud De Lie (BEL/Lotto-Dstny) at 8″
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#Cycling #Circuit #Het #Nieuwsblad #Tratnik #rewards #work #VismaLease #Bike
