The former Italian Champion secured his best result in a Monument after a strong collective performance.
Filippo Zana finished tenth in Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but this only tells half of the story when it comes to Soudal Quick-Step’s race, as our team produced an impressive display on the demanding roads of “La Doyenne”, which celebrated its 112th edition.
The Soudal Quick-Step boys were involved in almost all the main moves throughout the day, including the one that ended up leaving its mark on the race and shaping the first 150 kilometers. After a crash that occurred just three kilometers from the start, the peloton split, and a massive 52-man front group featuring Pascal Eenkhoorn, Dylan van Baarle and Louis Vervaeke formed.
By the time they crested Côte de Saint-Roch, the gap reached four minutes, raising alarms in the bunch and prompting several teams to join hands in order to make up ground. On Col de Haussire, some riders got spat out of the main group and their buffer reduced to just two minutes, a trend which continued until 90 kilometers to go, when the chasers finally bridged across.
After Eenkhoorn and Max Schachmann gave it a go and attempted to establish another breakaway, the bunch continued as one until the slopes of the mythical La Redoute, where the race exploded for the second time on Sunday. Two riders jumped clear, while behind a numerous chasing group formed; Steff Cras, Mauri Vansevenant and Filippo Zana were all there for the Wolfpack, and the former Italian Champion launched several successive attacks as he tried to snap the elastic and open a gap that would have put him in contention for a third-place finish on the Quai des Ardennes.
The others reacted, and at one point made an attempt to put some daylight into the others on the flat final kilometers, but Steff did an amazing effort to keep things together and make sure it would come down to a reduced sprint. Thanks to his excellent job, Zana was in position to take tenth in Liège - a result that came just four days after finishing as our highest-ranked rider at the other prestigious Ardennes Classic, Flèche Wallonne.
It was a really hard day, made even more demanding by that dangerous breakaway which contained some of the favourites.
“The peloton went full gas behind them, and then on La Redoute, where the group split decisively. We had three guys with the chasers, and I tried a lot of times to get away, but they came back every time. A sprint like that, after a tough race, is always hectic, and I started it a bit too far, but I’m glad I could still manage to be in the top ten. We did a good race the entire day and I’m content with the feeling I had”, said Filippo after the fastest ever Liège-Bastogne-Liège – 44.42km/h.
His feelings were echoed by Mauri Vansevenant, who was not far off the top ten: “That was a leg-sapping day in the saddle, with a high pace from the start. Over 260 kilometres, it was always going to be hard. I was well positioned on La Redoute, but those guys that rode away were just on a different level. Still, I can look back with satisfaction on how we raced as a team today, we were a real Wolfpack from start to finish.”
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
