Oudeman tenth in GP Oetingen
Maud Oudeman and Margaux Vigié finished tenth and twelfth in a challenging GP Oetingen. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders were among the strongest riders in the race, but were unable to make a fist in the sprint of the depleted peloton.
In the fifth edition of the Flemish one-day race, the pace was constantly high. On the local circuit, with several short climbs and cobbled sections, there were several attacks, but nobody managed to force a breakaway. Entering the final lap, the peloton still consisted of around 30 riders, including four from Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
A crash in the final kilometres caused the front group to break in two. Oudeman and Vigié were in the first part and had to battle for the win with thirteen others. Julie De Wilde eventually proved to be the fastest in the sprint, Oudeman and Vigié finished tenth and twelfth. "This was the highest we could do", sports director Robby Cobbaert said.
"Without the crash, there might have been three of four of us in front."
"Our plan was to follow in the first part of the race and actively race in the second part if there were any attacks. No team took the initiative to attack, so we mainly tried to focus on positioning. We did expect something to happen on the last lap, but the chaos caused by the crash meant we were a bit out of our depth."
In the end, only Oudeman and Vigié were part of the front group. "Without that crash, there might have been three or four of us in front. Maud and Margaux are not our sprinters. We couldn't expect them to ride podium. With tenth and twelfth place, they achieved the best possible result. We can be satisfied with that."