Nacer Bouhanni: "2nd, I'm obviously disappointed"
Nacer Bouhanni, second in Leuven, was keen to highlight the work done for him by Bram Welten in the final of this very nervous urban race.
On the line…
“I am obviously disappointed to finish second, and I don’t have much else to say. In any case, I would like to thank Bram for his work in my favour in the final and Yannis Voisard, who rode well when he had to”.
“The Grote Prijs Jef Scherens was a very nervous race in the city and on the circuit, and it was also dangerous. Yannis did a good job for the team by riding behind the breakaway. There was an attack in the last lap on the climb of the last hill, I followed the movement just in case, without getting involved. After that I was at Nacer’s service. He followed me and I launched him with 150 meters to go, and he finished second. Unfortunately”.
The debrief
“Yannis Voisard took the race in hand with TotalEnergies when it was necessary to maintain the gap between the peloton and the breakaways, and for the final, we had set up a strategy with Bram and Nacer so that they would be there in the last straight line. On an urban, technical circuit, with 200 kilometres, plus the heat, not everyone had the legs to be in the final. But the main thing is that Bram and Nacer were present in the last straight line, and that Nacer could sprint. The good operation of the day is that we have scored 125 points in our quest for UCI points”.