"This is like Tokyo" - Women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad favourites lose race after 'a competition to see who could wait the longest'

At the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, the women's race was decided by the lack of radios and information. The favourites were unaware of the breakaway survivor Anna Kiesenhofer who had built a huge gap beforehand. Whilst Omloop Het Nieuwsblad did have the radios, a similar situation led to a shock win, as the favourites' teams looked at each other too long.

The gap in the Belgian classic went as big as 13 minutes, it was still like that with 45 kilometers to go, and it was impossible for the peloton to bring it back in time for the finish. Lotte Claes took the win from the breakaway, beating Aurelo Nerlo. Demi Vollering was the first of the favourites behind to finish, over 3 minutes behind.

"I think no team really dared to take the initiative. What's behind that? I don't know," Puck Pieterse said at the finish. "I'm just getting started. You talk to each other a bit and then you hear: if that person puts someone in, we'll put someone in too. And the other party then says exactly the same thing. I don't think there's really a team to point to, but we all kind of messed it up".

A very odd situation taking into consideration FDJ - Suez, Fenix - Deceuninck and Team SD Worx - ProTime all had clear reasons to at least keep the breakaway in check. There were no agreements, no team willing to put one rider at least at the front for an extended period of time, and by the time the chase truly began the race was already gone. Vollering and Pieterse put in a brilliant ride to hold off the peloton in the final kilometers but it was all a fight for minor places.

"I think it was a competition to see who could wait the longest, with the thought: we're not going to make it work," Ellen van Dijk described. "It went really slowly and I also got really cold, after which I heard at one point that it was ten minutes. Then I knew: we're not going to make this up anymore, this is like Tokyo," the Dutchwoman recalls.

This may happen more often she believes, after taking today's behaviour as an example of who the team DS' believe should take responsibilities for the work. "And I think they mainly looked at each other. I think that's the new dynamic in the peloton, what we've seen. And then you get this I thought: what are we doing here? 'A very strange situation'".