Vlaandern, 26th of March – 2014
Tinkoff-Saxo took on Dwars door Vlaandern with a rather amputated team and the ride across the undulating and cobbled Belgian landscape was dominated by various breakaway attempts and perhaps Nicki Terpstra (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) formed the most tenacious one of them.
However, entering the very finale with 20 kilometers to go, Stijn Devolder (Trek Racing) launched a fierce attack but Tinkoff-Saxo Dane, Nicki Sørensen was very much alert, took his wheel and they pushed forward to reach Terpstra along with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Gert Steegmans (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) who got a free ride behind the three power engines.
But going in on the final two kilometers, the chase group was caught while Terpstra kept on struggling in the front of the race and he made it all the way to the finish line and had time enough to raise his arms to celebrate a great win.
Tinkoff-Saxo DS, Lars Michaelsen was happy to see Nicki in a late attack:
“I think we can be satisfied with the way we rode the race. First, we had Jay McCarthy in the big initial breakaway with 22 riders and in the finale, both Michael Mørkøv and Nicki Sørensen were waiting for the chance to make a move. Nicki chose the right moment and the right guys to follow and I’m just sorry that they weren’t able to make it to the line before the peloton,” said Michaelsen.
And Dane, Michael Mørkøv agrees:
“I think we can be content even though we didn’t get a result. Our only chance was to hit the right break and if Nicki, Valverde and Devolder couldn’t make it, I don’t think anyone could,” says Mørkøv.
