Bahrain - Victorious incredibly active in Flandres: "It was good for the team"

Bahrain - Victorious had a strong and experienced team, and although they couldn't use their numbers onto a podium result, they came off the Tour des Flandres with several riders near it, putting on an impressive collective performance.

22-year old Fred Wright was perhaps the team's most active rider, having attacked with Dylan van Baarle after the the first ascent of the Paterberg, and resist inside the Top10 for the final hour of racing: “It’s kind of as we expected, being a bit of an elimination race, with more and more guys slowly getting dropped. It was crucial to be in the right place on Kwaremont and I’m happy with where I positioned myself there and followed Dylan van Baarle over the Patenberg getting a decent gap."

He had been caught by the group of Pogacar, van der Poel and Madouas who attacked over the Paterberg. Later, he was dropped at the Oude Kwaremont, but held his own and worked together with Dylan Teuns in the run-up to the line to try and return to the front group, an almost successful attempt.

"I was really happy about that as I was going over the Koppenberg ahead of van der Poel and Pogacar which meant I’d go later in the final. I’m just a bit gutted I didn’t have the legs going over the Kwaremont the final time," Wright added.

After Matej Mohoric failed to perform at his best, the responsibilities of the team were shared amongst Wright, Teuns and Jan Tratnik who all had a very strong performance. They ended up with sixth, seventh and twelfth places in Oudenaarde: "I did all I could, I raced it really well and it’s shame me and Dylan couldn’t quite come back at the end. But overall I can be really happy with my performance and it’s a sign of good things for the future. Getting a top ten in a monument is pretty special and it was just amazing with the fans. It’s the best race in the world, one of my favourites I’ve ever done," the Briton concluded.

Although setting his sights on the Ardennes, Dylan Teuns came into the race with a green card to ride for his result. It was his first cobbled race of the year, but the Belgian finished sixth after a very strong performance towards the end of the day.

“It was a hard race today, but finally made it in top 10. I was a little bit sad I missed the break with van der Poel and Pogacar. But in the end, I’ve made a nice result, with me and Fred up there in the front, and I think it was good for the team," he said. He won't be riding Paris-Roubaix, however he is showing brilliant form heading into the main goals of his spring campaign.