Alberto Dainese sprints to 4th at Le Samyn after fighting team effort

With Opening Weekend behind the bunch, the team were back in action today for more cobbled racing at the infamous Le Samyn. Faced with stiflingly cold temperatures and a consistent wind, it was set to be a tough day out in the saddle. It was a steady start though with a break of seven managing to escape early on, with all the team in the peloton; focusing on working well together and saving energy for the local laps in the closing 100 kilometres.

Entering those laps the team moved forward well and it soon became a race of attrition with the original breakaway caught at still over 50 kilometres to go. A flurry of attacks occurred with Sean Flynn and Pavel Bittner covering the moves, before a strong six-rider group went clear. Having missed the move, Flynn contributed to some early pace setting before he was joined by Casper van Uden and alongside some other teams they were eventually able to make the catch going into the last five kilometres. Fast finisher Alberto Dainese was brought up by the guys for the last cobbled section and Dainese made it into a group of six that went clear, however, the rest of the reduced group made contact under the flamme rouge.

Bittner did his best to then up the pace and lead out Dainese, who gave his all on the uphill drag to the line to take a solid fourth place after a good day out fro the team.

Dainese said: “It was a pretty cold day and really stressful going into the laps. I felt much better than Kuurne personally and I think also as a team we rode really well, especially in the last laps we were covering moves and had guys to close down the attack. In the last cobble sector a group of six went clear that I made it into. What was left of the bunch then bridged in the last few hundred metres. I think Asgreen crashed in my wheel and I had a bit of hesitation and waited a bit too long for the sprint and got swamped. In general though I think we did a great job as a team and we should take the positives out of the day.”

Team DSM coach Phil West added: “We really missed the teamwork a bit in Kuurne so the focus was to be really solid as a unit, and important that we came into the final 100 kilometres where we approached the local laps with numbers. I’m pleased to say we did that in a really good way. In the local lap we came into there with four guys. From then it was about riding the race, doing the basics well, having good communication and going into the sectors together. As it unfolded in the final we were then able to get into the race, where Sean and Casper did a great job to close down the break in the late stages, where we could follow and try for a sprint in the group. They key takeaway for us is that we know we can be in races like this again if we keep up the good teamwork and can fight for those good results.”