Our squad looks with confidence to the 16th World Tour race of the season.
The “Queen of the Classics”, the hardest Monument in the world, a race like no other – Paris-Roubaix is the most unique event on the calendar and one of the oldest in the world. First held in 1896, seven years before the Tour de France was created, Paris-Roubaix has produced numerous unforgettable moments, incredible stories and phenomenal champions throughout the years, including three that wore the colors of our team: Tom Boonen, Niki Terpstra and Philippe Gilbert.
This year, Soudal Quick-Step will travel to the start in Compiègne with a strong seven-man squad capable to be in the mix for a good result on the famous André-Pétrieux Velodrome: Kasper Asgreen, Yves Lampaert, Tim Merlier – fresh off his spectacular Scheldeprijs victory – Gianni Moscon, Casper Pedersen, Bert Van Lerberghe, and neo-pro Warre Vangheluwe.
“We’ll be at the start after Tim’s win in Scheldeprijs, which gave plenty of confidence to the entire team. The key is to open up the race early and try to anticipate. Others need to control things, we can go with a different plan there. At the moment, it looks like we’ll have dry conditions and some tailwind on Sunday, which should make for a fast race. In Roubaix, it’s always important to conserve your energy and find the best possible line on the cobbles. At the same time, it’s a chaotic and unpredictable race where anything can happen, but we are quite confident in our chances and incredibly motivated to do a good race”, said Kasper ahead of his fifth start in the French Monument.
A 259.9km course stacked with 29 cobblestone sectors will be the main menu of Sunday’s 121st edition, which will see the peloton tackle a total of 55.7 kilometers of pavé. The main difficulties are once again expected to be Haveluy-Wallers, Trouée d’Arenberg, Camphin-en-Pévèle, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre – all difficult sectors where the race can be won or lost.
“We have many guys with experience, riders who competed in this race several times in the past and can be up there. Paris-Roubaix is a special race, completely different from De Ronde; you also need some luck to feature in the finale, and we hope we can be there and get a good result at the end of the day”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Wilfried Peeters.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
