Christophe Laporte: "We can’t win every race, but you don’t always get such a great opportunity to win a classic"

Jumbo-Visma have been dominating the cobbled classics season so far, and today they were once again the strongest team collectively. However, they came up just short of the win. Although Christophe Laporte was in position to take it, he didn't manage to be the fastest in the final sprint and finished in second place.

“It was close. I was surprised by Ghirmay’s start. He created a gap of a few metres and it wasn't easy to close it. Maybe I made a mistake by not starting my sprint earlier. I am disappointed because I felt strong enough to win. My second place of Friday in Harelbeke can’t be compared to this one because we won the race as a team.”

For the second consecutive race, Jumbo-Visma blew up the peloton. In the final ascent of the Kemmelberg Wout van Aert attacked and Christophe Laporte was in a good position in the chasing group. The groups came back together shortly after, however the Frenchman stirred up the winning move with 24 kilometers to go alongside eventual race winner Biniam Ghirmay, Jasper Stuyven and Dries van Gestel.

He was put on the front for the final sprint, and didn't have the speed to match the Eritrean's kick at the end, eventually finishing a disappointing second place: “I escaped to put the team in an excellent position. We wanted to make the race hard, but we weren’t the only ones. We can’t win every race, but you don’t always get such a great opportunity to win a classic," he said.

After finishing second at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic or Gent-Wevelgem, Laporte will keep eyeing a win in this cobbled classics campaign as he clearly has the form. In next week's Dwars door Vlaanderen he will be leading the team himself, and will be one of the main favourites for the Belgian race.