The Classics continued today with the Scheldeprijs – the oldest race in the Flanders calendar. The 104th edition was again one for the sprinters, and after a fast, frenetic and testing final kilometre, the expected bunch sprint took place, with Tinkoff’s Erik Baška finishing in 20th, shortly after the race winner.
The 208km course was flat, encouraging a fast tempo, but weather conditions made racing treacherous at times, especially over the cobblestone sections. In a change to previous years, where the final kilometre has been notorious for crashes, the route was changed this year, leading to a safer finish to the race.
A break of six riders got away early in the stage. With the intention of keeping the finish as a sprint, the peloton started chasing from 120km out, bringing the gap down considerably, although at 3’30” there was still a lot of work to be done. Tinkoff worked to drive the pace, steadily reducing the break’s advantage, bringing it to under a minute, before the break was finally caught with more than 50km of the race remaining. With plenty of racing still to go, more attacks came and a second break managed to get 30 seconds on the peloton.
Sport Director, Tristan Hoffman, explained how the race unfolded. “From the start was a steady breakaway so the bunch cruised behind as the race headed towards Schoten and once the pace picked up behind it was soon coming back together. The break was then caught quite early and from here it was very fast on the first few finishing circuits as there was some wind, but it calmed down a little on the last lap ahead of the sprint.”
At this stage of the race, the sprinters’ teams had no intention of allowing a break to stick, and so upped the pace again. As the race entered the final circuit, the break was caught and the jostling for position began. No team had control of the front, with all the riders looking around nervously to see who they would be up against in the final sprint.
Erik Baška was at the front of the race in the closing stages. “All day there was quite a good tempo and no strong winds. Then in the last three laps it all started – I had a good position on the first few laps when it was hard, and Peter helped me a lot in this. Then coming into the last lap, I had a good position on the cobblestones but from there the pace dropped and no team was really pulling so it was really nervous with an easy tempo.“
The final kilometre came, and while Tinkoff were near the front, it was tough to find position, as Erik observed. “I had a few near misses with crashes and lost position. I then followed Katusha and Kristoff but he was also out of the positions at the end.” Erik was blocked by the other teams’ sprint trains and was unable to find a clean line to the finish, coming across the line in 20th position, three seconds after the leaders.
On the final circuit, the speed in the peloton became noticeably slower – something Erik felt affected his finish in the race. “I’m disappointed that no teams were pulling, as with an easy tempo everyone was fighting for position and it got quite nervous in the bunch. If it had been faster then I would have been able to get into a better position and have been further up there at the end. It was great to have the team helping me today though, and good to learn from having the responsibility in the race.”
Hoffman was pleased with the team’s performance in the race, and how Baška performed as leader. “Erik Baška was up there all day and at the end the guys tried to get him up into the right wheels but he lost his at the end and wasn’t in the sprint. It’s good to see that he gave it a really good shot and pushed hard but he’s still young and learning, and sprinting at Scheldeprijs against the guys here is different to what he has had before. The pressure will be good for his development and it was a good experience.”
Ahead of Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix, Hoffman felt the team as preparing well for this important race. “Peter stayed safe and everything was OK with the boys. They tested their Paris-Roubaix bikes here and they’re feeling good ahead of Sunday. They changed the finish, making it safer in the final few kilometres today, which I think worked well. So I’m pleased overall that the guys stayed out of trouble, and got some good kilometres in the legs ahead of Sunday. We’ll have a steady day tomorrow before a recon ride of Roubaix on Friday.”
Race Result
1. Marcel Kittel (GER) Etixx-Quick-Step 04:54:05
2. Mark Cavendish (GBR) Dimension Data +00:00:00
3. André Greipel (GER) Lotto Soudal +00:00:00
4. Edward Theuns (BEL) Trek-Segafredo +00:00:00
5. Niccolo Bonifazio (ITA) Trek-Segafredo +00:00:00
20. Erik Baška (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:03
47. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:00:25
49. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:25
50. Michael Kolar (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:25
51. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:25
57. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:25
113. Adam Blythe (GBR) Tinkoff +00:03:05
DNF Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff
