Tom Pidcock might have entered Saturday's Omloop Het Niusbrod as one of the favorites to win after his impressive performance at the recent Volta Ao Algarve. However, not even a quarter of the way into the race, Ineos Grenadiers' plans went awry when Ben Turner crashed and was forced to retire with a broken elbow.

Jumbo Visma, with Dylan Van Baar winning the race and teammate Christophe Laporte also on the podium, was left on the back of a poor British team.

"They were very, very strong," Connie Swift summed up succinctly, regretting some of the team's decisions. 'If we had led the race instead of them, ...... I think there were a couple of situations where we would have been in the lead. So we got behind them a couple of times

"I think we need different tactics for the coming races. I think that also had an impact

Crosswinds in the early stages of the race caused Jumbo to attack as a team, and with around 100km to go, six of them joined a group of 14. By the time they approached Molenberg with 40km to go, the race was almost cohesive, and it was here that Pidcock, along with Arnaud de Lier and Dylan Van Baerle, followed Tim Wellens' move and fired up their biggest challenge.

However, this proved to be a premature effort, and as the players who had split from these attacks returned, Van Barre made another decisive move.

"Honestly, when Dylan attacks, he's like the invisible man. Despite knowing how strong he is."

Van Baar's personal strength was somewhat reinforced by Jumbo's strength as a team.

After his attack, Van Baar's group included Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Doustony), Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), and Mathis Lebert (Cofidis), while Christophe Laporte was comfortably in the second group of Lord The second group on the road had Christophe Laporte sitting comfortably, leaving the peloton with yet more options.

"I think it was really hard to make a difference in the end," Pidcock lamented. 'I mean, I guess we could have attacked, but for sure the jumbo players would have chased us down. So what am I supposed to do?

Earlier, when Swift was leading with around 90 km to go, he felt the pressure of being outnumbered after the Jumbos split into a small group of just six riders (two of them from Jumbo Visma).

"It was a pretty tough day," he said. Obviously," he continued, referring to Jan Tratnik and Nathan Van Hooydonk, "when Jumbo hit, I covered that move, but I didn't want to do too much there because I was outnumbered with two players.

"Tom was the leader today, so after that we just made sure he was in position.

Pidcock has been preparing mainly in warmer climates this season, including a week in Spain at the Sinclosfera Highlands Simulation Hotel before a week in the Algarve.

"When Jumbo got hit by a crosswind after the rain, I was so cold I basically couldn't even pedal. It was a tricky day.

With rising star Ben Turner out for at least three weeks with a broken elbow, Pidcock is hoping to have his right arm back in time for Paris-Roubaix in early April.