E3 Saxo Classic a test alongside van Aert, Dylan van Baarle has "a view to Dwars door Vlaanderen and Ronde van Vlaanderen"

Dylan van Baarle has started his season on a high, debuting his new Jumbo-Visma jersey with a win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. An injury during Tirreno-Adriatico was a pebble in his shoe however.

In an interview with In de Leiderstrui, van Baarle has talked about what he's seen at Milano-Sanremo: "Of course it looked impressive, what Mathieu did on top of the Poggio. That was strong, how fast those four men rode up." The Dutchman, alongside Tadej Pogacar, should be the main competition for Jumbo-Visma.

Not only the defending champion of Paris-Roubaix, the Jumbo-Visma team also come in with Tiesj Benoot and Nathan van Hooydonck who rode to first and second at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte who dominated last year's race here with a duo-attack to victory. As for van Baarle he abandoned Tirreno with pain in a leg, but he report that "my physical discomfort is going in the right direction."

"I had some problems with my shin, a bit of overload. I took some rest after I got off in Tirreno-Adriatico, but that has actually healed 100 percent," he explains. "Especially after the cobbled classics. It is an inconvenience that unfortunately occurs several times, but now it continued to nag a little longer than usual. But it has no consequences for next week."

The Dutch team has the Tour des Flandres and Paris-Roubaix as main goals but have the lineup to conquer the E3 Saxo Classic. On the eve of the Belgian classic, van Baarle confirmed that he would skip Gent - Wevelgem so as to focus on more suiting classics.

"In recent years I always wanted to skip Gent-Wevelgem, but that was never possible. This year it is, but that is also with a view to Dwars door Vlaanderen and Ronde van Vlaanderen," he concluded.