"Jan Tratnik was playing with me" - Nils Politt comes second after being edged out in sprint for the line at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
CyclingSunday, 25 February 2024 at 11:03
In a thrilling conclusion to the 2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Nils Politt and Jan Tratnik went under the flamme rouge with victory assured for one of them. Sadly for the German powerhouse, it was Tratnik who sprinted to the top step of the podium.
“It is now the second time that I have finished second like this. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike's were very strong today. They immediately solidified the course," reflected the UAE Team Emirates man in his post-race interview. "At the end I knew there were some fast guys behind us. So I'm happy that I could take second place for our team.”
Whilst Visma were unquestionably strong, UAE Team Emirates also showed well, although Politt admits he wasn't their pre-race choice to challenge for the final podium. “Our plan was that Tim Wellens would try something. He managed to cross over to the leading group," he explains. "I came from the background and saw Tratnik go. Visma had a lot of men in the group, so I knew I had to go with one of them.”
“We had to push, because the race was for Arnaud De Lie. Tratnik was playing with me a bit. He said he couldn't really continue and that I had to take the lead. I was already badly demolished, but a second place was better than nothing. So I fell short at the finish,” Politt concludes. “Today I felt very good. It's very nice to start the season like this in a big race. Now I hope I can continue this in the coming weeks.”
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- Dekker, if you want the job of commentator, at least follow Tadej. Every time Ayuso wins, Tadej like him and post congratulations. It never happens reciprocally, never Ayuso posts congratulations to his team-mates. There are people who like to play alone (it's not marginalization).
maria2024202404-06-2025 - Maybe if you see the results Pog has under his belt is the reason he makes decisions within the team. You can always make comments after the race or incident has occured. Hindsight fantastic. I feel the comments are sour grapes by Dekker crap rider when a pro and now sitting in the chair complaining. Would not even mind if it was good journalism even .move on nothing to see here old news.paultryan200204-06-2025
- Juan must have searched a beehive and stuck his face in it so he wouldn't have to work for his team-mate in pink 😄😄😄maria2024202404-06-2025
- Honestly Del Toro didn't act like had the jersey at all. Was so many times on stages prior he got Gee or someone else to chase when it was 100% his teams responsibility.HoopoeChai04-06-2025
- Would others want him though? Hes not really getting the results needed plus we have all seen Pidcock performance since left INIOS and its basically the same situation.HoopoeChai04-06-2025
- Vingegaard normally only has one goal: TDF I doubt if he'll win Dauphiné.Ride197404-06-2025
- I think Del Toro was tired, and he was probably going to lose the Giro anyway on that long climb. But he had the privilege of choosing which one was going to win: Yates or Carapaz. If he followed Yates, Carapaz would get his free ride up, then attack at the end. If he followed Carapaz, Yates was going to run off like he did.Ride197404-06-2025
- We don't know the whole story in it but don't create some issues Thomas Dekker. I know you're also has a Rabobank-Michael Rasmussen biological passport issue as well in your 2007 days.
James2631804-06-2025 - The last post is spot on.....the UAE team had the resposibility of straightening their boy, seeing as he was letting a giro he had in the bag go up the road. Remember Yates was virtual leader by only about 17 seconds at the top of Finestre so that giro was still salvageable even if Yates linked with Wout, they still had Sestriere to cut into Yates's lead if they had not brought him back at that point. So yes...UAE DS blew it.Zone0Rider04-06-2025
- The Ayuso pile-on get's a bit ridiculous at times. Ayuso didn't lose the Giro for UAE. It was crappy strategy by UAE. And maybe Yates just being stronger. UAE had by far the strongest team even after losing Ayuso and Vine, but didn't use them effectively. For example why wasn't McNulty sent ahead as a satellite rider on Stage 20. If Van Aert made it over the hill so could have Mcnulty. Problem is McNulty was too high on the GC so he wouldn't have been let go. So why the heck was McNulty chasing a meaningless top 10 on GC instead of shedding some time so he could be rested and useful for his leader? Why was Adam Yates invisible for much of the race? Why did it sometimes feel like Majka was the only one all in on supporting Del Toro?mobk04-06-2025
He didn’t make the most of his chances for the sprint. Granted, they were chasing them down but not that hard since (if I remember well in my old age) the gap only shrank from about 20s 7-8km out to 15 at the end. I would have expected, with earpieces and all, they’d be well aware of the lack of danger the chasers represented in the last 300-500m so he could also just have slowed down massively to play with the gap and turn it into a purer sprint.
Ok, it was a bit closer than I remember in the end, would have been tough to regain momentum on a slight uphill.