Bad luck continues for Visma-Lease a Bike at Gent-Wevelgem as Kooij fractures collarbone in crash and Jorgenson's breakaway attempts stall

Bad luck has once again come to bite Visma-Lease a Bike at the Classics. What looked like a great situation at Gent-Wevelgem turned into a disaster in a matter of seconds when sprinter Olav Kooij "misjudged a corner" while following eventual winner Mads Pedersen's (Lidl-Trek) wheel and crashed out of contention.

Defending champion Pedersen had been putting the entire field to the sword in De Moeren and over the opening cobbled climbs before he put in another vicious attack on the first of three Plugstreet sectors of unpaved road. Only two could follow him, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Kooij.

Philipsen was the first to get left behind when an untimely puncture saw him go backwards. Then, away from the TV cameras, Pedersen was suddenly solo, with a small blotch of yellow in the background soon being revealed as a more cruel outcome for Visma.

Kooij had crashed hard into the ditch that runs alongside the unpaved roads. Clutching his arm clearly in pain, it was later confirmed that the Dutch fast man had broken his collarbone. Last year it was Wout van Aert and this time Kooij, the curse of the Classics reared its ugly head once again for the killer bees, Visma-Lease a Bike.

"He missed a corner. He's been in contact with the doctor from the hospital. He just missed a corner and ended in the ditch, crashed and his race was over," said Visma DS Arthur van Dongen at the finish.

"Before it was a perfect scenario, and he only had to follow Mads [Pedersen] until they joined Victor's group. Then he has to just do the Kemmelberg and in this shape, I think that he was maybe the only one who could follow Mads."

Van Dongen wasn't yet sure if Kooij had fractured his clavicle but the team had the bad news just a few hours later, "Olav Kooij has fractured his collarbone during today's Gent-Wevelgem."

Pedersen would bridge across to those who'd anticipated earlier in the race, including Visma's Victor Campenaerts, but with his sprinter gone and those behind not in play, the Belgian had to concede to the Dane's superior power as he surged away on the Kemmelberg 56km from the finish.

"I heard the news that Olav had crashed. That hit hard, but we had to refocus. In the end, we have to admit that there was no stopping Pedersen today. I tried to follow him, but I just couldn't match his pace," said Campenaerts. Subhead: Jorgenson still confident heading into Flanders

Late-race entry Matteo Jorgenson had to again accept the bitter reality of racing in the Classics, as he did last year when Van Aert crashed heavily at Dwars door Vlaanderen, with a perfect situation suddenly becoming a nightmare.  "It was a really good situation, we had Tiesj enter first with Olav on the wheel and then I saw Mads and Olav going off the front," said Jorgenson, describing what he saw on the Hill 63 Plugstreet.

"Then next thing I know I saw Olav [Kooij] on the ground and Mads [Pedersen] solo, so that's where our race kind of ended. Unfortunately, these things happen in cycling."

And while the American tried several times to lead a strong group away from the uncooperative peloton, his positioning heading into the Plugstreet also means his race ended when Pedersen took charge.

"I got swarmed like 200 metres before the corner, just a huge group came up on my right and just slammed the breaks on the inside so I struggled to get back," said Jorgenson.

"But I just honestly saw Tiesj and Olav there and thought 'Wow that's perfect' and then Olav's crash just kind of changed the whole race for us.

"It was a difficult situation [after], with not a lot of collaboration. I was trying to get a group clear on the Kemmelberg so we could work together but it never happened.

"I would go over the Kemmel and find myself solo and it just, with the wind, made it really chaotic to chase and we never got him back so chapeau to Mads."

Nonetheless, Jorgenson remained positive about his form ahead of the main event at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, especially after swapping out six hours of planned training on Saturday for five and a half hours of all-out racing on Sunday at Gent-Wevelgem.

"I'm glad that I chose to race today, it was definitely less boring than a training ride that's for sure," said the American.

What did he learn from today's performance? "Just that I have good legs and I felt really good the whole day, even at 250k so that's a good sign."

He was similarly confident about his co-leader for Sunday, Wout van Aert, even after the Belgian star's disappointing return from altitude at the E3 Saxo Classic. Even with more bad luck, Visma should enter the Ronde with their two strongest riders and as underdogs.

"I think he's just having a tough moment, just had a couple of bad races basically at Opening Weekend and E3," said Jorgenson in Ypres.

"I think that what I know about Wout is that he's an incredibly hard worker and incredibly focused, and I have confidence that he'll be ready for Flanders because he's spent three weeks preparing just like he's done every single year. He's in great shape."

Visma and Jorgenson may have been channelling his inner Michael Jordan as he donned a pair of Oakley Eye Jackets throughout the one-day Spring Classic, however, Gent-Wevelgem was far from their last dance over the Flemish cobbles – that's still to come next week at the Tour of Flanders.

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