"I didn’t really understand why Van Aert..." - Groupama DS puzzled by Visma leader's tactics at Dwars door Vlaanderen

Groupama United - FDJ have not been much of a factor during the current spring classics, with Stefan Küng having departed the team without a real replacement. Romain Grégoire has been hashing it out in the cobbles and has looked in form, however has not been there in the decisive moments. At Dwars door Vlaanderen he was dropped by Wout Van Aert whilst in the key move of the race, but the Belgian's tactics earned him criticism from the French team's DS.

“We noticed that the group was strong in recent races. So we wanted to take advantage of that today. The goal was to be proactive and not ride conservatively," team DS Frédéric Guesdom said in a press release.

"It was the penultimate race in Flanders, and we didn’t want any regrets: we had to be involved in the moves and try to get the best possible result. There was a lot of racing early on, but without a real breakaway. The approach to Berg ten Houte was technical, Lidl-Trek forced the pace, and about fifteen riders got clear, including Thibaud [Gruel]. However, some big teams were missing at the front, so the peloton worked to bring it back.”

The race proved to be very tactical, with non-stop attacks. Groupama wanted to be part of the action and with a well-timed move, managed to have Romain Grégoire jump off the front together with Niklas Larsen and Samuel Leroux. A group that included names who wouldn't ordinarily fight for the win, but this would turn out to be the case.

“After that, only one major climb remained, the Eikenberg. So it was the ideal moment to anticipate the moves of the main favorites. Once Romain was away, the others had to cover moves and disrupt the chase".

The young classics specialist was in the right place at the right time, and by the time Wout Van Aert attacked in the peloton and bridged across to the front, Grégoire was present with Larsen, and the three worked together to maintain their gap over the fast-moving peloton.

However that move came to an end for Grégoire with 35 kilometers to go on the Nokereberg, far from the most difficult climb of the day, where Van Aert attacked in the saddle. Grégoire was caught by surprise and didn't catch the wheel of his group companions again.

“He paid for a slight lack of course knowledge, as he found himself positioned too early at the front. On that climb, it’s best to come from behind with speed, and unfortunately he got caught out there".

"That said, I didn’t really understand why Van Aert decided to push the pace at that moment," Guesdom adds, with the attack proving deadly for Groupama's chances of a strong result on the day. "He probably would have been better off staying with the two others and going further. It was obviously a shame for us.”

“From that point, the others had to keep being active, because the attacks continued, and Valentin was up there". The team had Thibau Gruel and Axel Huens still in the peloton who wanted to contest the sprint, however didn't manage to ride into the Top10 on the day.