<\/p>\n
\u201cI would imagine that Van der Poel\u2019s peak power today was from that dab getting across,\u201d Blythe said.<\/p>\n
The second that split the race<\/p>\n
At the bottom of the Molenberg, Vermeersch accelerated. A Tudor rider ahead of Van der Poel lost traction on the wet cobbles and slid out. In an instant, the world champion had to unclip and put a foot down to avoid crashing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t really fault him,\u201d Blythe said of the fallen rider. \u201cJust slipped on wet cobbles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van der Poel, however, did not hesitate. \u201cThere was no panic,\u201d Stephens observed. \u201cFoot down, dab, just like in a cyclocross race, and back on.\u201d<\/p>\n
What followed was the subtle but critical surge. From near standstill on a steep gradient, Van der Poel clipped back in, regained momentum and bridged to Vermeersch. That was the split that reshaped the race. \u201cThat was the race-winning moment,\u201d Stephens added.<\/p>\n
The effort required to restart on 15 to 16 percent wet cobbles, without spinning out or stalling, may well have been greater than the tempo that later distanced his rivals. \u201cWhen he puts his foot down, he\u2019s slowed to a stop,\u201d Blythe explained. \u201cHe\u2019s managed to change gears, clip back in and accelerate without getting out of the saddle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Control rather than brutality<\/p>\n
What made this Omloop win stand out was not violence but restraint. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen him win a bike race like that,\u201d Blythe admitted. \u201cNormally, it\u2019s a savage attack. But that race, he didn\u2019t really seem to have to do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of detonating the race with repeated accelerations, Van der Poel rode with control. \u201cHe just keeps turning the screw,\u201d Blythe said. \u201cIt\u2019s not full gas. He just lays down power and distances riders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephens noted that he did not even look behind once the gap opened. \u201cHe didn\u2019t even look round.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a race defined by crashes and disorder, composure proved decisive. Teams struggled to reorganise after repeated incidents. Several contenders were delayed or eliminated entirely. Van der Poel was not.<\/p>\n
The winning move came on the Muur. The victory, according to Blythe and Stephens, was secured seconds earlier on the Molenberg, when instinct, balance and composure turned chaos into advantage.<\/p>\n
In a chaotic Opening Weekend, the smallest action produced the biggest separation.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI would imagine that Van der Poel\u2019s peak power today was from that dab getting across,\u201d Blythe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[163942,143965,4985,99800,144777,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-453887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-adam-blythe","tag-alpecin-premier-tech","tag-cycling","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-omloop-het-nieuwsblad","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}