Rowe bags fifth in Flanders
Last Updated: 05/04/16 1:10pm
Luke Rowe rode to a hard-fought fifth place at the Tour of Flanders after an exciting 100th edition.
Luke Rowe rode to a hard-fought fifth place at the Tour of Flanders after an exciting 100th edition.
The Welshman was part of a committed performance in the Flemish cycling heartland, sprinting home to pick up Team Sky's best result in the Belgian Monument to date.
The team were represented well with numbers to the fore during much of the epic 255-kilometre Classic, providing a great tactical platform for attacks.
The most significant of which came from Michal Kwiatkowski, who launched a long-range move with 32km to go - a powerful acceleration that drew a reaction from Peter Sagan and Sep Vanmarcke.
Once again the final one-two punch of the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg proved to be decisive, with Sagan (Tinkoff) pushing clear on the former, distancing Kwiatkowski before ramming home his advantage on the final climb of the day. The end result was a superb solo victory for the world champion, 25 seconds ahead of Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo).
Rowe and Geraint Thomas were able to haul their way into the third group on the road, ultimately contesting the sprint for fourth as Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) rounded out the podium positions.
Thomas battled back from an early crash to finish 12th, but neither he nor anyone else was able to hold the wheel of Cancellara on the Kwaremont as the lead group disintegrated.
Ian Stannard also made his way up the road ahead of the infamous Koppenberg, before attacking again to go solo on Steenbeekdries. That bid to bridge to the day's early break proved a bridge too far during a day of attrition.
Strong work from Gianni Moscon in his Flanders pro debut, along with Salvatore Puccio, Michal Golas and Christian Knees ensured Team Sky were never far from the front as the climbs arrived thick and fast.
Rowe happy with milestone result
"As a team we rode pretty well today," Rowe told TeamSky.com after the race. "We were always at the front and we said we'd try and put a man in every move after the Koppenberg and I think we did that. On a personal level I'm obviously pretty chuffed with that. We didn't win the race but it's another step forward. I've got to be happy with that.
"That last (climb of the) Paterberg is just an absolute slog. It's just whoever has anything left in the legs, but I still felt relatively alright. I attacked on there with (Alexander) Kristoff and we got across to G's group. But it was just too little too late to catch the guys in front. Especially with a decent tailwind it was always going to be tough. It seems like 10 seconds over here is like a minute anywhere else. It's so hard to close the smallest of gaps."
The big races keep coming for Rowe and the team, with attention turning to Paris-Roubaix in a week's time, with a stop off at Scheldeprijs on Wednesday.
"We're doing a recon of Roubaix on Tuesday and then we'll ride Scheldeprijs on Wednesday," he added. "Then it's just a case of feet up, rest, recover, and focus on Roubaix."
