Team News: 3rd for Chris Lawless at Scheldeprijs

Chris Lawless (Team Sky) sprinted to a strong third place at Scheldeprijs as the young Brit mirrored his result from last season.

Team News: 3rd for Chris Lawless at Scheldeprijs

Chris Lawless sprinted to a strong third place at Scheldeprijs as the young Brit mirrored his result from last season. Heading into the final kilometre the sprinter was able to manoeuvre his way to the front before opening up his sprint. In the final metres he was narrowly overhauled, with 2018 victor Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) claiming the victory.

Photo: Getty Images

Lawless was well protected by his Team Sky teammates on the day, with Ian Stannard and Owain Doull getting through a lot of work on the front, before Gianni Moscon helped ease him into the final kilometres.

Chris: “I spent a bit of time in the wind just making sure I was in the right position in that last kilometre. And when the opportunity arose I just hit out. I think technically I did a better sprint than last year. I expect the power numbers will be better but it’s the same result. That’s just how it plays out sometimes. It’s a bit of a bittersweet result. It’s nice to be on the podium and to get third two years in a row – but you always hope for that couple of steps better”.

“Most of the day I was at the front and I was able to make every front split. I had a puncture when the race was split into two groups, shortly after (Kristoffer) Halvorsen crashed. It was a difficult moment and luckily the bunch wasn’t going too fast at that point. I got a neutral service wheel but that tyre was rubbing the frame. So it was a case of waiting for the team car to come up and I’d already been dropped from the second group at that point. Luckily I was able to get back on and it was pretty simple after that”.

“(Owain) Doull did a really good job of looking after me on the last lap of the circuit before the cobbles. On the cobbled sector he rode pretty hard as there was a bit of wind, so it was useful for me to be on his wheel. Then Gianni (Moscon) took over looking after me after the cobbles. He took me to a kilometre and a half to go. Then I just tried to surf the wheels. It was about as close as you could get to last year in terms of the final and how it played out. I had to hit out a bit early. It’s one of those things – when you’ve got such strong lead-out trains there such as Bora and Quick-Step – you’ve got to do something different to try and out-wit them.”

1. Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 4:26:45
2. Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) s.t.
3. Chris Lawless (Team Sky)