The main theme of the E3 Saxo Classic was the marked superiority of three riders, and you'd forgive a host of big Classics names for a total loss of hope just over a week out from the Tour of Flanders.
Matej Mohorič, however, is not among them. The Bahrain Victorious rider was forced to watch through gritted teeth and blurring vision as Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Tadej Pogačar forced their way clear on the Oude Kwaremont, but brushed off the idea of Flanders as a three-horse race.
Superior, but far from untouchable, was his assessment of the Classics newest power trio.
"The difference seems a lot but it's actually very little," Mohorič told Cyclingnews after placing seventh Harelbeke. "If I'm on a super day and they make a small mistake, then it's the same level."
Mohorič painted E3 as a picture of fine lines and minor details.
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"It's just a 10-second sprint," he said ruefully, referring to the stretching elastic on the Kwaremont. "I just didn't have the legs to go that extra bit, 10 seconds full full full."
Calculating his deficiency at "half a percent", Mohorič identified three small mistakes that may have spelt the difference between earning a ticket to the finale and being forced to drop back to a doomed chase group.
The first came when Van der Poel opened the race on the Taaienberg with some 80km remaining.
"I was a little too far back, and I had to dig deep to come back to the front," he explained to reporters at the finish. "If I spent a little less energy on the Taaienberg then maybe – but it's always maybe – I could go with Van Aert on the Kwaremont."
The next two mistakes came just before the Kwaremont, either side of the peak of the Paterberg. Mohorič had jumped into an anticipatory move with Søren Kragh Andersen and Nathan Van Hooydonck – teammates of Van der Poel and Van Aert respectively – and had since been joined by the 'big three' after Van der Poel's attack on the Stationberg.
"On the Paterberg I was feeling good and I sensed I could go with them but then at the top in the ditch there was a lot of mud, and me and Wout van Aert lost traction. I made a mistake not going on the cobbles and I lost the wheel," Mohorič said.
"Then I did another mistake to come back on my own rather than wait for the other two guys," he added, referring to the way he closed the gap to the front three on the descent before Kragh Andersen and Van Hooydonck also rejoined.
It was almost straight onto the Oude Kwaremont, where Pogačar's forcing instantly distanced his rivals' teammates before Mohorič agonisingly lost the wheel, then lost another metre, and another, and his chances were gone.
"Every bullet you waste here..." Mohorič started. "If you're on the limit to be with the best or not, everything counts."
Mohorič then drifted back to a group that included Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and two riders apiece from Groupama-FDJ and Movistar, coming home in seventh place. He felt the result did an injustice to his ride but took heart nonetheless.
"I proved today there were just three guys stronger than me. OK, in the end, I was seventh and not fourth but seventh but that doesn't really matter – we race to win.
"I think the shape is there. I'm feeling the best I ever did," he added. "I'm confident we can get a podium if the stars align. The best three guys obviously were the three on the podium today but in these races things can happen – accidents, crashes – so hopefully we're on the lucky side in one Classic and we can take a win or at least a podium."
