"It's a day we have to forget about as quick as possible," said Rabobank sports director Frans Maassen on the team's website. Indeed, Dwars door Vlaanderen wasn't a great day in the annals of the Dutch ProTour team.
"Joost (Posthuma) was even referring to it as the worst day of the year," said Maassen. "This is a thing which can happen. Joost wasn't good today; we were sitting too far in the back when it went wrong in the peloton and afterwards we weren't able to come back. It was just fitting the scenario of a crappy day."
Before the race, the signs were there already. Graeme Brown, Niels Scheuneman and Gerben Löwik had to forfeit because of different reasons. The sickbay at Rabo is crowded and there wasn't much choice of reserves: Michael Boogerd (foot), Thomas Dekker (stomach problems), Thorwald Veneberg (collarbone), Roy Sentjens (nervous system virus) are also out, so Theo Eltink and Pieter Weening started yesterday, but the race isn't exactly their cup of tea.
"Niels Scheuneman still suffers the consequences of his shoulder injury. Gerben Löwik has been operated on. For Graeme Brown this race didn't come at the right time. Three forfeits; two replacements. We started down one man and with not enough specialists for this typical Flemish race," explained Maassen
"The bow cannot always be stretched," Maassen added wisely. "This was Joost's first race since Paris-Nice and you can imagine a lot simpler things than a race like this. It noticeable, because a Posthuma in form of course joins Boonen and those other guys when they accelerate."
Luckily the day wasn't bad overall. the Rabo Continental Team put things into perspective in the Tour of Normandy. Martijn Maaskant won Wednesday's afternoon stage in a mass sprint.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
