For a man learning the trade of a Classics rider, the finale of February´s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was a rather useful spot of fieldwork for Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb). It went unnoticed to many, but the Dutch youngster was the last man to remain in contact with the elite trio of Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke in the closing stages, only shaken loose on the penultimate section of cobbles at the Paddestraat. `It was quite a shame I lost contact with the guys because if I´d hung on there, I don´t think they´d had have dropped me after that,` Teunissen told Cyclingnews. `There was a headwind on Lange Munte so I probably could have hung on there as well, and then I could have been at least fourth.` In the event, Teunissen reached Ghent in 12th place, finishing in the chase group that formed on the run-in, but his performance was all the more striking given that he had spent much of the race off the front as part of the day´s early break. He perhaps surprised even himself by matching Sagan et al for so long after being caught, but being in close proximity to the strongmen was also sobering. The gap between the elite and the rest is a daunting one.ADVERTISEMENT `It is a step, and it´s hard to say how big is that step,` Teunissen said. `Finishing in the first group is nice, but being with the best guys is such a big difference. Everybody knows at Nieuwsblad that the Taaienberg is where the difference is made, and those guys are there every time. They always can attack there. For me and other guys around me, we have to be lucky to be there in that position and then good enough to follow. And then you have to follow the three or four final efforts after that. Those guys can do that every time.` Teunissen swapped LottoNL-Jumbo for Sunweb over the winter, reasoning that his new team would offer greater freedom in the cobbled Classics. At Lotto, he was tasked primarily with laying the groundwork for Vanmarcke early in the race. At Sunweb, the idea is t ...
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