Bora-Argon 18 lined up at Scheldeprijs in Belgium today with the aim of working for Sam Bennett. The race normally ends in a sprint and following his recent stage win in Criterium International, the Irish rider could have expected to be in contention.

An early break went clear but there was no Bora-Argon 18 riders present as they wanted to ensure they had full support available for Bennett.

The lead of the breakaway increased to almost 5 minutes, but there was never a feeling that the big teams in the peloton lost control of the race. From about kilometre 100 the gap was coming down steadily and the breakaway group was caught with 50 kilometres to go.

In the closing hour of the race, Etixx-Quickstep controlled the situation together with Katusha on the 3 laps of the finishing circuit.

With Kristoff as the defending champion and Kittel being a 3-time winner of this race, these teams had the biggest favourites to protect.

BORA – ARGON 18 moved up to the front with about 6k to go. The team looked well positioned, but when the roads got narrower with 3 kilometres remaining, they were caught on the wrong side on the peloton and lost a lot of positions.

Shane Archbold tried to move up with Bennett on his wheel inside the last kilometre, but the race was already lost. Bennett was caught on the wrong side of the group and was unable to contend in the sprint, and finished outside the top ten.

Marcel Kittel was the one to take the win, which means he has now four victories in the Scheldeprijs under his belt.

“Everything looked good with 5k to go. The team was well together and up the front. But when we turned from the Schelde back into the city we were caught on the wrong side. We lost position but also each other there. I tried to move up with Sam on the last kilometre, but there was no chance because it was too late.” – Shane Archbold

“After we lost position Shane tried to move us back up,” said Sam Bennett afterwards. “He dropped me at the wheel of Kristoff, but it was too late, there was no chance to take on the sprint with the guys on the front, also for Kristoff.”

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