If one moment summed up how unexpected Lotte Claes' victory had been in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, it was surely when one of the world's top racers, Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) leaned over on the winner's podium to give her a hand opening the champagne bottle.
Claes’ triumph was not just a surprise because it was her first, with favourites of the calibre of Vollering finishing third at best. She has also only been a fully-fledged professional for two years, working as a nurse prior to that as well as racing as much as she could.
"It's now my second year as a pro and before that I rode a bike for another two years, but before that I did duathlon," Claes explained. "And the first two years, that I did cycling I combined the two.”
She also participated in a popular Belgian reality show, Kamp Waes, "because a lot of friends of mine said it was something good for me, you're a very sporty type. But I never thought after doing that that I would end up here winning Omloop, that's crazy.”
But what made that victory even more unusual was that Claes had formed part of the early break of the day of five riders, attacking with 137 kilometres to go, just a few hundred metres after the race had started. And after the teams behind embroiled themselves in a futile stalemate, by the end of a day-long break that worked beyond anybody's wildest dreams, 'all' she had to do was outsprint Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orange Seal) and the 31-year-old's first triumph was in the bag.
Nobody could say that the Arkéa-B&B racer's win was undeserved. But given the unusual circumstances of the victory, it had been uncertain right up until the very last metre of the race.
"We started here with an ambitious plan, but it was more about our sprinters and Classics specialists," she said. "My job was to help them, but then we got a massive lead.”
"I was very happy in the breakaway, because I don't like being in the peloton because I don't like positioning in the peloton.”
Over 13 minutes at one point, the advantage had shrunk to just over three by the finish. But that was still enough to claim the victory, after all the break had collaborated, she said, to see how far they could get.
"We start believing that we could make it, we worked well together, not all of them were strong on the climbs and we waited for them afterwards. From the Mur [of Geraardsbergen] my team manager said that I should go for it and that was the time.”
"I don't understand why they gave us so much time, maybe the big teams were thinking they'd race full gas, but I don't know why. I don't think they'll give me 12 minutes next time, though.”
It was a very tough sprint, she recognised, but "I had to believe I could do it, because I'm not an explosive racer, you saw that on TV. First I had to close down the gap with my rival and then with 250 metres to go I thought I had to get away from her. So I went and it was just pushing, pushing until the finish line." It was, she agreed with a laugh, the hardest 250 metres of her career to date.
Her Arkéa-B&B Hotels teammates were so determined to see her celebrate her triumph on the winner's podium, that they were happy to wait for nearly half an hour, some of them getting close to tears during the ceremony itself, and Claes paid tribute to them for their support.
"We have a really good team, they are all so friendly, when I saw them crying and laughing at my win, my heart was melting," she said.
"It's also very important for our team, we're not a huge team and don't have many victories, so this is good for them.”
She also had a thank you to Vollering for assisting her with the champagne, saying with a smile, "I'm not so familiar with that, but Demi helped me, I asked her." Next time, she agreed, it would be easier - and certainly not so surprising, either.
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