Johan Van Summeren’s victory shows the importance of teamwork in the sport
Despite being the strongest rider in the race for the second week in succession, Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) found himself unable to overcome the superior numbers of the other teams he was up against. In the race’s closing stages Cancellara was repeatedly frustrated by the unwillingness of Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) and Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing) to join him in the chase; both riders had men up the road though, and had no obligation to do any work at all.
While it doesn’t tell the whole story, the race result shows the differing performances of the rivals’ teams. Including race winner Johan Van Summeren, Garmin-Cervélo had six classified finishers, with five of them in the top 28; BMC Racing also had six finishers, while Rabobank had five.
Other than Cancellara, the only other Leopard Trek rider to finish was Martin Mortensen, back in 94th, 13’59” behind; 2007 winner Stuart O’Grady also crossed the line, but was outside the time limit.
“This is a team; we can win as a team,” Garmin-Cervélo director Jonathan Vaughters told VeloNation at the finish. “You know, as an individual Fabian Cancellara is such an incredible athlete; as an individual. But as a team, and you know when I say team I mean from the soigneurs to the mechanics, to the directors, to the owners, to the sponsors; this team is an incredible team.
“We don’t have a huge, huge star,” he added, “but we have an incredible team and that’s how we pulled it off.”
When the race entered its decisive phase, Garmin-Cervélo had Van Summeren in the breakaway, Hushovd in the main group with Cancellara, and Sep Vanmarcke and Gabriel Rasch in support; Cancellara had nobody, and when he acted he was forced to do it alone.
“We were owning the race,” said Vaughters, “we had the strongest team, not the strongest rider so we had to play that.”
When Cancellara made his big move, he was shadowed by Hushovd and Ballan, who had Quinziato ahead; neither would work with him, because neither had to, and the Swiss rider remonstrated with the Garmin-Cervélo car when it came alongside to pass drinks to Hushovd.
“Yeah, it was pissing him off,” Vaughters explained, “but that’s the game isn’t it. Yeah, we did a perfect race today.”
While Cancellara’s frustration is understandable, his protests were aimed at the wrong team. He was quite simply outnumbered by the other teams because his own Leopard Trek men were nowhere to be seen.
While Van Summeren was not Garmin-Cervélo’s first choice for the victory however, his fifth place in 2009, and eighth in 2008, proved that he was a rider capable of taking the race; this made him the perfect choice to send forward to the breakaway.
“Johan’s been in shape for a very long time and he’s a super strong rider,” teammate Gabriel Rasch told VeloNation, “and he’s used to just working for others and I think it’s just super that he got this chance.”
Rasch spent the latter part of the race looking out for Hushovd, but had originally been up ahead with Van Summeren.
“I was in the group with Johan,” he explained, “and then I had to wait for Thor to help to get him back… to get him back to the front group.”
While Van Summeren undoubtedly benefited from Cancellara’s isolation, which effectively neutered the chase, for Rasch he was a very worthy winner of the famous cobblestone trophy.
“Nobody is lucky in this race!” he laughed.