United Arab Emirates -  April 15, 2021:   Matteo Trentin opened the Ardennes campaign on a promising note for UAE Team Emirates with 3rd place at De Brabantse Pijl.

 

The Emirati squad were active throughout the day with Sven Erik Bystrom covering the attacks in the later half of the race, paving the way for Trentin to make his move off the front of the peloton.

 

Trentin went for a long-range solo attack from an elite group of riders with over 25km to go building up a lead of over 20’’ as they crossed the line for the final lap of the circuit in Overijse in Belgium.

 

With 8km to go Trentin was joined by Tom Pidcock (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and this trio would go on to form the race winning move.

 

In the final dash to the line, Pidcock proved the quickest with Trentin close behind in 3rd place after a gutsy ride on the 201 km course.

 

Trentin: “I had a decent gap going across the finish on the last lap and my tempo was good but it was hard to hold off the whole group as they were collaborating. When I saw Van Aert and Pidcock coming across I decided to ease up a little bit and try and recover a bit because I thought this would be the winning move and in the end it was. I felt good today but the legs were a bit tired in the end and the strongest guy won. I look forward to coming back racing on these roads at the World Championships later in the year.”

 

Results

1.Tom Pidcock (Ineos-Grenadiers) 4:36:27

2.Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) s.t

3.Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) +2”