Greig Leach

Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) had out foxed the seasoned Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) in the final kilometers of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Not only had he made the German do most of the work in the final five kilometers, he made sure he was on the front as the went under the flame rouge. Politt is not the best of sprinters (his strengths lie elsewhere), so he had little hope of being able to drop the smaller Tratnik once he started his sprint. As the Visma man went away, Politt dropped his head in defeat then looked back to make sure the chasers weren’t going to steal his podium spot. Meanwhile, Tratnik celebrated his well ridden victory (and that of his team) as the crush of the cycling press photographed away. Moments later, Tratnik’s teammate Wout Van Aert out sprinted the rest of the field to claim third in this year’s Omloop.