The 106th edition of the Tour of Flanders saw two Bahrain Victorious riders finish in the top ten. Dylan Teuns and Fred Wright took 6th and 7th, respectively, sprinting to the line in Oudenaarde.
The second Monument of the season saw riders take on 272km with plenty of cobbles and climbs to make it a challenging day. It was early in the race when a nine-man breakaway formed and was allowed to have a gap of nearly four minutes.
On the second pass at the Oude Kwaremont is where the chase took off and closed down the breakaway. Fred Wright followed that move and then attacked alongside the day’s runner up Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and building a 20-second gap.
That gap was taken away when eventual race winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) upped the tempo on the steep climbs. However, in the final, it all came back together before the sprint as riders became hesitant before the sprint. In the end, Teuns and Wright crossed the line 6th and 7th.
Dylan Teuns: “It was a hard race today, but finally made it in top 10. I was a little bit sad I missed the break with van der Poel and Pogacar. But in the end, I’ve made a nice result, with me and Fred up there in the front, and I think it was good for the team.”
Fred Wright: “It’s kind of as we expected, being a bit of an elimation race, with more and more guys slowly getting dropped. It was crucial to be in the right place on Kwaremont and I’m happy with where I positioned myself there and followed Dylan van Baarl over the Patenberg getting a decent gap.
I was really happy about that as I was going over the Koppenberg ahead of van der Poel and Pogacar which meant I’d go later in the final. I’m just a bit gutted I didn’t have the legs going over the Kwaremont the final time.
I did all I could, I raced it really well and it’s shame me and Dylan couldn’t quite come back at the end. But overall I can be really happy with my performance and it’s a sign of good things for the future. Getting a top ten in a monument is pretty special and it was just amazing with the fans. It’s the best race in the world, one of my favourites I’ve ever done.”
