The Belgian, with many years of experience first as a cyclist and later as a sports director, made it clear that the luck factor had an impact yesterday on the positions of Primoz Roglic,
Juan Ayuso,
Isaac del Toro and the rest of the favorites:
"It had to do with luck what happened yesterday, Del Toro and Carapaz fell just in front of Roglic and Bernal and were able to continue, the other two were blocked and without a bike, 7 of the 8 Lidl-Trek riders went to the ground, the only one who didn't was Carlos Verona. It happened at the front. Roads like this with flat cobblestones and rain are the worst, it's like ice skating, I think it's better to have real round cobblestones, because the cyclists are forced to go slower, these flat cobblestones look like a normal road, but they are extremely slippery."
He does not agree with Wout van Aert's criticism blaming riders for the massive crash that did not influence Visma because they were setting the pace at the front:
"I've seen statements from Van Aert criticizing other teams, but it's easy to say that when you're in the lead, carrying the pace, but the teams in the general must be in the lead, they must fight for position, it's normal for them to try, there's not too much space, it was all there in the lead, there was nowhere to go and it was a matter of luck, Del Toro, Carapaz and Simon Yates were in the lead; Bernal, Roglic, Ayuso and Tiberi lost valuable time; Tiberi more than the rest, you can forget about the general."
A bad day for UAE? Bruyneel is very clear that no, they were not uncomfortable with the end of the race as they showed by not pulling to take Ayuso forward:
"I don't think it was a bad day for UAE, at one point there were 3 groups, one with Del Toro, the second with Ayuso and a third with 3 or 4 UAE, when those UAE joined Ayuso's group they didn't pull, which clearly means that UAE has the confidence in Del Toro compared by guys like Carapaz or Simon Yates and Ayuso stays with the same time of the favorite before the race started, Primoz Roglic."