Exactly one week after the impressive collective performance in Paris-Roubaix, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux again played a major role this Sunday in the 108th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.UWT).
On his eight race day of the season in 2022, Belgian rider Quinten Hermans obtained second place in La Doyenne after 257 kilometer or more than six hours of racing, by winning the sprint for second place 48 seconds behind te winner.
In the beginning of the race, his teammate Baptiste Planckaert managed to join the breakaway of eleven riders after a long battle, enabling the Belgian World Team to be represented in the front for a second consecutive year.
Planckaert was present in the front of the race until the Côte de Stockeu and then helped out Simone Petilli and Jan Bakelants, who were involved in the crash in the downhill of the Haute Levée. Quinten Hermans, Domenico Pozzovivo and Georg Zimmermann avoided the crash which split the peloton with 60 kilometer to go and accompanied the first part of the peloton until the foot of La Redoute. Hermans followed the best climbers until La Roche-aux-Faucons, where he had to let go a group of ten riders in pursuit of leader Evenepoel.
With perseverance, the cyclocross specialist returned to the group on the downhill part towards the finish, enabling him to sprint for second place. Hermans overtook Belgian champion Wout Van Aert in the final hectometers and sprinted to second place, climbing on an entirely Belgian podium.
In this way, Hermans obtained the first podium in a Monument in the team’s history and also the twentieth podium of the season for the Belgian World Team. Even though he punctured between the Col du Rosier and the Côte de Desnié, Pozzovivo managed to come back in the strong rider group and to cross the line in 26th place.
« The perfect scenario for me happened today! I never had to waste energy during the race. This is definitely thanks to the support of my teammates, especially Jan Bakelants, because they always helped me to position in the front for the climbs. In this way, I could start the final among the best riders. On the first part of La Roche-aux-Faucons I felt pretty good, I dug deep and I raced in sixth or seventh place. Buth on the second part it became difficult for me and I had to let go the group. For an instant I thought I was out of the race for a good result, but I continued the battle and I managed to come back. » « I knew that I was able to sprint well after a hard race. But I surprised myself by beating strong riders such as Wout Van Aert. It was a true fight for his slipstream, but I was determined and absolutely wanted to sprint in his slipstream. I felt that I still had something left in the legs to overtake him and so I won the group sprint. I was already happy with this performance, but it was only a couple of minutes later that it sunk in that I took second place in a Monument. It's an honor for me to join those two champions on the podium! » « The success of our teammates in the cobble classics created fantastic dynamics in the team, which motivated our climbers group to do the same. But because of illness our selection for the Ardennes classics was shaken up and our preparation was disturbed. Despite this bad luck we managed to conclude our classic spring campaign on the podium. It is probably not a hazard that we play a major role in both the cobble classics and Ardennes classics with different riders. This is the result of efficient work behind the scenes of all members of the team. I also worked hard myself to perform in these races and it is fantastic that I can harvest the fruit in such a big race! »
