Ploeg

The absolute dominance of Mathieu van der Poel’s team at Paris-Roubaix this year was a masterclass in hard-nosed, brilliant tactics, performed by a team rooted in the grand traditions of Flemish racing. Every one of them is a true bicycle racer: fast and agile, tactically brilliant, and brutally strong.

6’3” Oscar Riesebeek dominated our TV screens almost from the gun as the Alpecin-Deceuninck team began their control of the race. The Dutchman was always on the front, sometimes alone, sometimes with teammates, keeping the morning’s Kasper Asgreen led breakaway in check, and his world champion leader in position. At one point, Riesebeek and four teammates were working on the front, along with Lidl-Trek’s Tim Declercq, aka “the Tractor” for his famed ability to plough through the wind for hours on end, and I had the sense of a passing of the baton. Declercq, in Riesebeek, had perhaps found his successor, and it seemed to me that he was enjoying seeing how the Dutchman was performing. Riesebeek remained on the front, in a race that was covering more that 50-kph each hour, for over 100-kilometers. Then, and this is where he became amazing, the first cobbles were reached, and Riesebeek accelerated, blasting through the next few sections on the front, his strength opening gaps and causing chaos behind. Contenders Mads Pedersen and Tom Pidcock were victims -they had to chase for the longest time to catch back up- while five Alpecin-Deceuninck’s, including Van der Poel, simply rode hard on the front, wearing the race down.

 The race shredded, reassembled then shredded again under VdP’s team pressure. On a side note, the live coverage of the disqualification of Ineos’s Josh Tarling made for superb television. The widely discussed chicane at the entrance to the famed-dreaded-popular Arenberg Forest cobbles was a non-issue, VdP was dropped off in perfect position where he did his thing and destroyed what was left of the peloton leaving only a small group in contention. More chaos ensued, and a three-man break shot off the front with Swiss Stefan Küng and German Nils Politt, two favorites going like mad, with the devil himself, Gianni Vermeersch, who was so crucial to VdP’s Flanders win, tucked in behind, forcing Lidl-Trek to chase: yet another perfect tactical move by the Alpecin-Deceuninck team. Vermeersch is one of those riders who, when you find yourself in a breakaway and see that he’s there too, you realize that all is lost because he’ll get you, somehow, no matter what, in the end.

 That too was quashed, Vermeersch remained all over the front of the peloton, jumping on anything that moved. He was tremendous. Finally, the coup de grace, with 60-k to go, Vermeersch powered through a set of cobbles, asphyxiating the group, setting up Mathieu van der Poel for his astounding solo attack that ended only on the finish line at the Velodrome of Roubaix, some three-minutes ahead of his nearest chaser. Behind, Vermeersch and teammate, the world’s fastest – and I say strongest – sprinter, Jasper Philipsen controlled the seven men – including them – to perfection, with Philipsen winning the sprint for second and Vermeersch an excellent seventh, especially after all his work.

 It's worth a rewatch of the race, with focus simply on that team, to witness what team perfection really looks like. The Alpecin-Deceuninck team represents a great heritage, one that goes back, at least, to the Ti Raleigh’s of the 1970’s and 1980’s. It’s good to see that some things never change and that racing craft remains a powerful and highly entertaining force in our sport.