Lotte Claes pulled off a shock win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after a day-long breakaway survived while the peloton hesitated. Claes outsprinted Aurela Nerlo in Ninove, while Demi Vollering won the sprint for third more than three minutes later.
The post-race reaction from the peloton made one thing clear—no team wanted to take up the chase, and by the time action came, it was already too late.
Vollering: “It’s not always up to us to chase”
Demi Vollering, who secured third place, pointed out that FDJ-SUEZ had done what they planned, but the responsibility to chase shouldn’t have fallen solely on them.
“I mean, it’s not always up to us to chase, and I think as a team we did a really strong job today. I’m really proud of my teammates and I really enjoyed today as a race. The places where we wanted to make it hard and show ourselves, we did, so I think we can be proud of that.”
She also felt no regret over how the race unfolded.
“What went wrong? No idea. At one point I was sitting next to Puck (Pieterse) and I said: ‘Wow, that’s going to be exciting.’ I didn’t feel like it was up to us today. There were a lot of good teams with sprinters riding around. I didn’t want my teammates to ride too hard at the front, because then we show that we are strong for the rest of the season. But I thought it was fine, I really enjoyed it.”
Wiebes: “Everybody was looking at each other”
Lorena Wiebes explained SD Worx-Protime’s decision not to chase, stating that they weren’t certain they could follow on the Muur.
“The breakaway got quite some minutes and I think it was not quite up to us to chase because we weren’t here to come over in the first group at the Muur, so we thought it was more up to the other teams.”
She described how the peloton became stuck in a waiting game.
“Everyone was looking at each other. Maybe if another team started chasing first then maybe other teams would start but I don’t know if it was that they waited for us or FDJ or another team. At one point Puck came to us and said, ‘if you guys start to chase then we will start to chase’ but we were like ‘yeah but…’ it was really looking to each other at that point.”
Even if they had caught the break, Wiebes pointed out that they wouldn’t have been racing for the win.
“I was feeling quite ok but I was not 100% sure to come over in the first group in the Muur, and at the end Puck and Demi stayed in front so anyway if we caught the front group we were sprinting for third place and that’s also not what we came for.”
Pieterse: “Everyone was talking to each other”
Puck Pieterse, who finished fourth, saw the same situation play out from inside the race.
“It was actually a big, quiet endurance ride. Everyone was talking to each other and it was easy to stay in the front. It was quiet the whole time, but at some point I think the peloton realised that we couldn’t catch the front women anymore. At the end we did put some women in front, but that was too late. I think half of the peloton was waiting for FDJ-SUEZ to ride for Demi Vollering and the other half for SD Worx-Protime for Lorena Wiebes.”
Danny Stam: “Nobody takes the responsibility to close the gap”
SD Worx-Protime sports director Danny Stam acknowledged that the gap became too difficult to close, but similar to the line from Lorena, he didn’t want the team to work just to be dropped by Demi Vollering later.
“Nobody takes the responsibility to close the gap and then the gap gets 14 minutes and you know it will be difficult to close it. We know that Lorena is fast but that it’s also difficult to follow Demi on the Muur, so that’s for us that if we take the initiative and you get dropped anyway that it makes no sense.”
He dismissed the idea that teams were playing politics and instead pointed to a new reality in the peloton.
“I don’t think it’s politics. Teams are getting stronger and stronger and everyone needs to find their place back in the peloton. Feels where they need to take responsibility, yes or no. Every race is different and you could feel today that everyone was looking to each other. But I think next week we will have a different race and a more open race again.”
Claes: “My job was actually to help our sprinters”
On a happier note, for Lotte Claes, the win came as a complete surprise.
“This is fantastic. I didn’t expect it because I lack a bit of explosiveness. But I often have something left at the end of the race. The Polish rider is a bit faster, I think, but she started early. I can’t believe it.”
She admitted that her initial role had been to support others.
“My job was actually to help our sprinters, but I’m happy that the peloton gave us such a big lead. It was only after the Berendries that I really started to believe in it. I hoped that we would work together until De Muur, then we would have a good chance.”
As the peloton reflects on what went wrong, one thing is clear: the usual hierarchy is shifting, and teams will need to adjust quickly if they don’t want to see more races slip away.
Main photo credit: Getty
