"Finishing second is very satisfying for myself" - Jasper Stuyven 'best of the race' behind Mathieu van der Poel at E3 Saxo Classic

Although Mads Pedersen was the big hope of Lidl-Trek pre-race at E3 Saxo Classic 2024, Jasper Stuyven was the man for the team in the end, finishing a somewhat surprising second behind Mathieu van der Poel.

"I'm of course, very happy!" said the Belgian in his post-race interview with a smile. "I think it's a very, very nice result. As a team we rode super strong, always there, always present and okay, Mathieu was above everyone else today but finishing second is very satisfying for myself."

Whilst van der Poel was a runaway winner in the end, Stuyven attacked from the chase group behind, joined Wout van Aert who'd been ahead on the road and then took the second placed finish in a somewhat uncontested sprint with his compatriot.

"E3 is normally a race that is really hard for our team," Stuyven continues. "For Mads it was again. He didn't say he had a bad day, I don't think he did actually because we were all on a very good level today. We are confident going forward to the other races."