Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre 2024

March 27, 2024 Cold, cloudy and windy, a true Spring day in Belgium for another cobbled classic. It took over an hour for the break to form and it was a strong one that went, eleven riders total. Groupama-FDJ and Lidl-Trek were the main teams making the speed in the peloton, fighting for every corner as the kilometers ticked by. A few probing moves at around 70KM to go over the top of Berg Ten Houte stretched the peloton and brought the breakaway to just a minute and twenty seconds, but no real splits were made from the favorites. On the wide road to the Kanarieberg, the speed was high and a rider looked to get caught in the cement gutter near the front of the peloton and came down. Many riders went down very heavily including Biniam Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty, Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Jasper Stuyven and Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek. Wout van Aert seemed worst off and it would be discovered he suffered broken ribs, sternum, and collarbone and will miss the rest of the Spring racing and likely the Giro. The race went on however and his teammate Matteo Jorgenson was leading the remnants of the peloton up the Kanarieberg, gaining on the break whose lead was now only forty seconds. Jorgenson pulled out a strong group including Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ, Tiesj Benoot of Visma-Lease a Bike, Michael Valgren and Alberto Bettiol of EF-Education EasyPost. Josh Tarling of Ineos was able to bridge to the Jorgenson group that had a minute from the third group with 40KM to go. On Ladeuze, the Jorgenson group caught the six remaining breakaway riders making twelve at the front. Küng put in a big dig on the Huisepontweg cobbles, splitting the group to seven. Bettiol got a jump at the base of Nokereberg and got a gap, Jorgenson was first to chase, bringing Bettiol back over the top with Benoot and Tarling momentarily getting dropped. Bettiol pulled up on the Herlegemstraat with cramp which took him out of contention, leaving six in the front: Jorgenson, Tarling, Benoot, Küng and Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility and Dries De Bondt of Decathlon AG2R of the original break. The leaders all rode well together on their way back around to Nokere for the second and final time. Benoot was first to disrupt, making a move on a rise outside of Nokere. Tarling and De Bondt were on, forcing Küng to close the gap and was able to get back on over the top. When the riders got on to a wider road after the Nokere descent, Jorgenson attacked with no response at 7KM to go. Tarling tried to get on but he had been dangling behind the group and looked to be a spent force. The five chasers resigned the chance for a win and set their sights on who would take the podium places. Abrahamsen was first to sprint and took second place ahead of Küng as Jorgenson took another big win for the season.