ProTeam Nikolas Maes: "We aim to win a classic this year."

"I'm really looking forward to the start of the classics season. More than for other races, you feel that there's more stress for the riders and staff, which is normal. As a Belgian team the classics are really important. With the team we have this year, we can be ambitious and that brings a bit of extra stress."

"I think we can look to the bigger picture, and not only to this weekend. I expect to see the best of Arnaud De Lie a bit later in the classics period, he will already be up there in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but I expect we will see a growing Arnaud during the classics. With Florian we of course lost an important rider for the classics season, but it's the reality now and with also Victor, Jasper, Brent and even Cedric, we have different riders who can ride the finale and who can be important."

"For the Omloop I expect there will be multiple opportunities before the finale, to make the race. We will need to be attentive and be there, so you don't get into a defensive position and you lose riders on moments where it's not needed. We need to look to bring Arnaud in a good position towards the sprint, or towards the Muur. We need to get into that winning position with Arnaud or with someone else of the team. We will also get a 24 km/h – 28 km/h wind combined with possible a bit of rain, it's perfect for us. We have some flandrien riders who love this kind of weather."

"We have a plan over 4 years, where we started to build towards winning a classic with a young team. It kind of went fast with Arnaud, this year we aim to win a classic. We don't know yet where the limits are of Arnaud, but we are ready and we can be ambitious. The preparations have been done on all departments, now it's up to the riders and we will guide them as much as possible on the right moments. I hope this weekend we have a podium once, a win would be great but we need to be realistic and aim for a good result."

Picture: Photonews