"Of course we were also missing the necessary riders, so we would have liked to put more stamps on the course and win more," the sports director continues, referring to the absences of Wout van Aert, Dylan van Baarle and Christophe Laporte at times over the past few months. "But last week we also rode a very good Amstel."
As mentioned, over the last few weeks, Tiesj Benoot has been the bright light of the team. "Tiesj did just ride a good race," van Dongen reflects of his riders 12th placed finish at
Liege-Bastogne-Liege. "Although, he was alone in that group of 30 men at the end. That was insufficient, we should have had more people with him. Then maybe we could have guided Tiesj to a top-ten, which I think he deserved. But unfortunately that wasn't in the cards."
"If you see that initially we had also drafted Wout van Aert in the Amstel and the like, we might convert some things in the future. But that's all still very far away," van Dongen concludes. "I am confident that in the future we will also be strong enough in these races, with Matteo Jorgenson as well. There are definitely enough good riders in the team for this work."