“They wanted to screw the peloton, but in the end they mainly screwed themselves" - Louis Vervaeke slams UAE Team Emirates antics at La Fleche Wallonne

With a strong team on paper, UAE Team Emirates held some lofty ambitions ahead of La Fleche Wallonne 2024. Sadly for them though, it turned into a disaster day with none of their seven-man team even finishing.

The likes of Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida, Brandon McNulty, Marc Hirschi and more all succumbed to the conditions on a bitterly cold and wet day in the Ardennes. One man who has no sympathy for the UAE Team Emirates roster however, is Soudal - Quick-Step's Louis Vervaeke, also a DNF on the day.

“Just when it started to rain, they attacked. So you didn't have time to go to the car to get clothes. I immediately rode to the front, but in the chaos that followed I never got another jacket,” Vervaeke explains in conversation with Het Nieuwsblad. 

“It's a tactic like any other,” the experienced, 30-year-old Belgian adds. “They wanted to screw the peloton, but in the end they mainly screwed themselves. At the moment of their attack I thought: they must have rain gear, but apparently, that was not the case.”