Sergeant: "We miss a striker"

By Brecht Decaluwé

A former Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner turned Davitamon-Lotto directeur-sportif, Dirk De Wolf, had a few words to say on yesterday's team's performance: "Certainly, it wasn't bad; Horner was great, Leukemans and Van Summeren were good. The only annoyance is that Evans disappointed today; last year, he was riding better this time of the year, the Tour de France is coming soon, we still hope he can reach his best form there."

Marc Sergeant, also a manager/directeur-sportif from Davitamon-Lotto said: "I noticed that most of the riders in the finale were young guys, except for Boogerd and Bettini. We're missing a striker, someone that can rack up a victory today," the Belgian said.

"Evans was a disappointment," echoed Sergeant, "just like in the Brabantse Pijl. He was complaining about a headache this morning. Besides that, he's also suffering an eye problem when he gets very tired."

To make matters worse, the Belgians in general had a very quiet day at the office, the best Björn Leukmans in 41st place. However, Sergeant was protective of his Belgian riders: "Leukemans was there in the finale and worked for Horner, but I think he will not be too excited. Van Summeren was very disappointed that he couldn't take that step forward this year; still, he shouldn't worry too much. The guys are not all called Tom Boonen."