🇧🇪 #BaloiseBelgiumTour 💬 “We were already second and third with Olav, so today we were hoping for a win. Unfortunately it was not to be.” – Sports director Maarten Wynants Read more in our report! ✍️
"We were hoping for a win. Unfortunately it was not to be" - More crashes plaque Visma as Olav Kooij denied sprint chance on final stage of Baloise Belgium Tour
CyclingMonday, 17 June 2024 at 12:30
Returning to racing for the first time since being forced to abandon the 2024 Giro d'Italia due to illness, Olav Kooij was unable to depart the Baloise Belgium Tour with a win added to his palmares.
Most disappointingly, on the final stage, Kooij was denied a chance to even sprint for the win as a late crash scuppered any and all of his hopes of victory. "It's unfortunate. We were very well placed, but it is what it is,” Team Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Maarten Wynants reflected afterwards in conversation with his team's official website. "It was hard racing, so a crash can happen easily. That's part of cycling unfortunately, but it's extra sour that we caused it ourselves."
The sprint field at the 2024 Baloise Belgium Tour was of incredibly high quality, with Kooij joined by sprint rivals such as Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier among others. "With sprinters like Merlier and Jasper Philipsen at the start, stage wins were anything but up for grabs this week," Wynants continues however. "We were already second and third with Olav, so today we were hoping for a win. Unfortunately it was not to be, but next week there are races again. New opportunities await. That too is the beauty of the sport."
Nevertheless, it wasn't a completely disappointing week in Belgium for Team Visma | Lease a Bike as Per Strand Hagenes secured himself a top-10 finish in the general classification, finishing 28 seconds down on overall winner, Uno-X Mobility's Soren Waerenskjold. "Per had a good week," Wynants concludes his reflection of the race. "In the queen stage on Saturday, he had to let the strongest riders go. He kept going for it and he kept fighting. Against this field of competitors, the podium was a difficult goal. He can look back on a fine performance in this stage race."
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- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- I doubt he will have the energy to do that if he continues to do leadout for Phillipsenabstractengineer22-12-2024
- I know several people who’ve tried contacting sport airbag manufacturers and none of them ever got a reply. Might be hard to organise anything with such attitudes.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- It's the BBC. Who cares outside of little Britain.leodis22-12-2024
- Crawl back under your stone.leodis22-12-2024
- Thanks Dadmobk22-12-2024
- Hard to believe with the advancment of modern medicine he can not find a cause for this.frieders321-12-2024
- You continue to platform these two cheats. With that in mind I can no longer use your site. I know my leaving means little, but, sometimes you have to take a stand. See ya!DJ21-12-2024