Sunday April 2 was a day full of lessons in the small world of professional cycling. The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) first demonstrated that he was definitely capable of winning on all terrains, by adding, after a solo raid, the Tour of Flanders to an already rich record. of two Tours de France. As a direct consequence of this first point, bike lovers have also noticed that the Jumbo-Visma was ultimately not unbeatable, while Paris-Roubaix takes place this Sunday, April 9.
Since the start of the Flanders Classics season, the Dutch team hadn’t got into the habit of leaving the first places to others. It’s simple: the yellow and black armada won everywhere, or almost, and by relying on a large panel of runners. Dutchman Dylan van Baarle and Belgian Tiesj Benoot first distinguished themselves by winning respectively on the Het Nieuwsblad circuit and on Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Then Wout van Aert raised his arms during the E3 Grand Prix before Frenchman Christophe Laporte scored a double by winning his first two classics: Ghent-Wevelgem then A travers la Flandre.
In Wevelgem, the Jumbo-Visma was even able to take the time to savor the victory as a team since van Aert offered victory to the Frenchman, the two riders having arrived in the lead together, arm in arm. An image reminiscent of the coup de force of the first stage of Paris-Nice 2022, during which van Aert and Primoz Roglic had let Laporte cross the line first. “Their strength is having riders who would be leaders in the other teams, notes Frédéric Guesdon, sports director of the Groupama-FDJ team and last French winner of Paris-Roubaix (1997). Collectively, they have enormous potential and are always present in numbers in the final races. »
🇬🇧😍 Christophe Laporte winner of Ghent-Wevelgem! Wout van Aert leaves the victory to the French at the end of a struggle… https://t.co/HqLct9lNu6
Seeing the Jumbo-Visma reign over the pelotons is nothing new. Slovenian Primoz Roglic has won the Tour of Spain three times (2019, 2020 and 2021). Danish Jonas Vingegaard won the last Grande Boucle, a year after finishing second in the event. But not satiated by these successes during summer stage races, the ogre Jumbo-Visma also turned to spring and the classic Flanders and Ardennes.
Top runners at every echelon
“You just have to look at their recruitment to understand their change of strategy”, points out Frédéric Guesdon. In addition to Christophe Laporte – hired in 2022 from Cofidis – the yellow and black team has offered the services of Dylan van Baarle. A reinforcement of weight: the Dutchman, last winner of Paris-Roubaix, should play, on Sunday, the role of luxury lieutenant of the Belgian Wout van Aert, whom he had preceded in 2022 in the “hell of the North”.
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