“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
Cycling
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.
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“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.”
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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Rafionain-Glas11-11-2026 - What a win! It's been been so long in the waiting but I'm so glad for Cameron that he's finally got that victory. Sad to see Brand crash out like that. It didn't look too bad initially but there was clearly something very wrong. It could be like van Aert's last year
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- 🤣🤣🤣what a headlineabstractengineer11-11-2026
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