But health doesn’t play along in these weeks, which means that training sessions and racing toughness are missing. “Our entire team was plagued by illnesses and unfortunately we don’t have a single driver who is really in top form”, stressed Politt. In some cases, the racing team only had ten fit drivers and did not compete with the maximum number of professionals allowed in many races.
Surprise tactic for Politt
Bora-hansgrohe does not have this anger exclusively in the peloton. At Paris-Nice, a wave of flu paralyzed half the field, many stars were missing at Milan-Sanremo. And last week, European champion Sonny Colbrelli collapsed after the first stage of the Tour of Catalonia and had to be resuscitated. For the Italian it was the first race after bronchitis.
That’s why you don’t get restless with Bora. “It would be unfair to measure Nils against Roubaix’s second place in Flanders. But his morale is definitely there.”, said sports director Rolf Aldag. And if he’s not in top form, the ex-professional works on a surprise tactic for Politt for the 272.5-kilometer race over 18 poisonous climbs and the roughest Flemish cobblestones. “We will drive offensively and think about something”, said the 53-year-old. Perhaps this week’s Wednesday was already a test when Politt drove in a breakaway group for a long time at Quer durch Flanders and ended up fifth.
Van Aert, van der Poel and Pogacar the favourites
The big favorite this year comes from Belgium. Wout Van Aert and his Jumbo Visma team have dominated the cobblestone classics so far. His biggest competitors are likely to be Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel and overdriver Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian is making his professional debut in Flanders, ostensibly just to prepare for the cobbled stage of this year’s Tour de France. But at least since Pogacar won the Tour of Lombardy and the Strade Bianche gravel race at the first participation, the 23-year-old will be trusted to do anything.
Politt is already looking at Paris-Roubaix
And Politt can mainly use Flanders to collect racing kilometers. Because his big dream is more of winning at ParisRoubaix – and that’s where the calendar comes in handy this year. Instead of the traditional one week after Flanders, the “Hell of the North” will take place two weeks later because of the French presidential elections this year. “It’s good for Nils that he has some breathing space and can build up.”said Aldag. His chances are definitely better there than in Flanders. But maybe the surprise tactic will work.
Source: dpa