The Jumbo wins: It doesn’t matter when you read this. It could well be a Stephen King novel, because the superiority exerted by the Dutch team over the rest of the teams is starting to scare. This Wednesday, as he did in Ghent-Wevelgem last weekend, it was once again the turn of a Christophe Laporte who is polishing an increasingly respectable list of winners. On this occasion, the Frenchman won in Through Flanders without the collaboration of his teammate Wout van Aert, who gave him the victory in Ghent. He didn’t need it, since his level was several rungs above the rest. In fact, despite the fact that he was the fastest man in the small group that was going to fight for victory, he attacked in the kilometers before the sprint and nobody caught him. The best of mortals, although today he performed as one of the greats, he was a surprising Oier Lazkano who finished second to complete what is probably the best performance of his career. The podium closed it Neilson Powless.
A leak of six cyclists was soon consolidated in which the telephone company Lazkano managed to leak. Along with the Spaniard, Yevgeniy Gidich, Nickolas Zukowsky, Ward Vanhoof, Leon Heinschke and the incombustible Alexander Kristoff. His maximum advantage stabilized at around 4 minutes, until the arrival of that succession of cobbled heights that dynamited the race. The tension grew and the falls arrived, with particularly important withdrawals such as that of two men who were among the favorites in the event of arrival in the sprint: Tim Merlier and Olav Kooij. Another of the victims was Stefan Bissegger.
The escapees arrived with just over 1 minute ahead of the climax. As they went up the Kanarieberg climb, Gidich and Zukowsky were left behind while a very high-level chasing group formed with Laporte, Benoot, Küng, Madouas, Powless, Honoré, Narváez and Hermans. With so many well-represented teams ahead, the toast fell to the main group in the hands of the Lotto Dstny. Arnaud de Lie kept options… And then came the show, as unexpected as it was spectacular, by Lazkano. Harnesses in two sections of cobblestone, one flat and the other uphill, with which he released the last survivors of the escape except for Kristoff. The levels of Nokereberg and Nokere, as well as a cobbled double pass, and Lazkano resisted stoically at the head.
The kilometers followed one another and the situation did not change. Nerves grew… But the dream ended with 6 km to go, at which time Lazkano and Kristoff were absorbed by the chasing group. Of course, the memorable performance is not taken away by anyone. So, the Jumbo did its thing. Benoot attacked in warning mode, while Laporte cold-bloodedly pulled from behind, waiting for others to close the gap. He came propelled by Kristoff’s help and a few seconds after the regrouping, he took advantage of that minimum moment of doubt to launch the final attack. He had such good legs that he did not want to wait for a sprint that, most likely, he would also have won. Second, as a reward for his enormous performance, Lazkano managed to enter, with the rest of the ‘roosters’ hot on his heels. A run, although with an outcome that we are already beginning to get used to…
The SD Worx adds and continues
It only adds three days of competition in 2023, but after a discreet 17th place in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad there is no one who can with Demi Vollering. The Dutch conquered the sixth women’s edition of Through Flanders to add his second win of the season (after Strade Bianche) and give the SD Worx the eighth success of the year, with which he unseats Trek-Segafredo from the top of the ranking.
With 50 km to go, the race was already very selected. At that moment, Marianne Vos attacked to finish blowing up the group of chosen ones, from which Marlen Reusser jumped to contact the Jumbo broker. After endless attacks and counterattacks, in which women like Liane Lippert, Elisa Longo Borghini and Floortje Mackaij, among others, took part, Reusser and Vos were neutralized with 17 km to go. The final blow, with about 7 km to go, was signed by Vollering, who had plenty of time to savor the solo victory. The group sprint was taken by Chiara Consonni, followed by Vos.
Results of the 77th Across Flanders
1st Christophe Laporte (Jumbo) – 4h 06:20
2nd Oier Lazkano (Movistar) – at 15″
3rd Neilson Powless (EF Education) – mt
4th Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) – mt
5th Mads Pedersen (Trek) – mt