No major role for Team Visma | Lease a Bike in Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Team Visma | Lease a Bike was unable to play a large role in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Tiesj Benoot was the first rider across the line for the yellow-and-black squad, finishing in 13th place. The victory went to Tadej Pogačar.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège was the fourth Monument on the calendar. In the 111th edition of the Belgian spring classic, the riders faced over 250 kilometers featuring eleven categorized climbs.
The breakaway of the day was caught by the peloton well before the finish. What followed was a tense build-up towards the Côte de la Redoute – traditionally a decisive climb in the classic. In the peloton, Benoot, Ben Tulett, and Attila Valter were still part of the race. On La Redoute, no one had an answer to the inevitable acceleration by Pogačar. The Slovenian then rode unchallenged towards victory. Chasers Giulio Ciccone and Ben Healy completed the podium. In the reduced peloton, Benoot sprinted to 13th place. Tulett finished 20th.
"I didn't have a top feeling today"
"I didn’t have a top feeling today, but it certainly wasn’t bad," said Benoot afterwards. "Positioning was not easy today. On La Redoute I was a little too far back, but I felt better as the race progressed. In the end, I ended up in the third group together with Ben and Attila. With that large group, we sprinted for the places of honour, but missed out on another top-ten finish.”
Sports director Arthur van Dongen looked back on his riders' performance: "We can look back on a solid race. In the final, we were still represented by three riders in the peloton. Ben delivered a strong performance on La Redoute, where – apart from an unleashed Pogačar – he reached the top with the best. Unfortunately, he just fell short in responding to the duo attack of Ciccone and Healy. We couldn’t compete for the podium, but the guys fought hard once again."