The young Lotto Soudal rider has had a sharp uprising in the peloton as he stormed to a surprise runner-up place in Paris-Roubaix last year. It is only Florian Vermeersch's second full-season as a professional rider, in the coming months he will be focusing on more modest results and gaining experience.
On an interview with SportVoetbalmagazine Vermeersch has talked about his ambitions coming into the spring after a breakthrough set of performances last year: "I will by no means claim that I will immediately compete for a victory in every classic. That wouldn't be realistic. In the coming years I want to become a top performer in the classics, but in 2022 it is primarily a matter of learning a lot."
"After all, I'm still young and haven't been riding with the pros for long. My ambition for this season is to achieve a top result in the 'smaller' classics, such as Nokere Koerse or the Brede Koksijde Classic," a modest ambition for such a big talent. Vermeersch went on to add, "and to participate in the final in one of the major classics. If that works, I'll call my spring a success."
A product of the Lotto Soudal development ranks, he turned pro halfway through 2020 and quickly had a Top10 GC classification at the BinkBank Tour proving that the potential was very big. Despite missing out on a big result in the spring, the gruesome conditions of Paris-Roubaix played to his strengths as he just narrowly missed out on the win in a sprint with Sonny Colbrelli and Mathieu van der Poel.
He added: "With the U23's it was quite simple: if you were one of the best riders, you were in the front anyway. With the pros you only ride against men who are good."
He mentions that one of his strengths is on the mental side: "It's true that I don't break down easily. In Roubaix I had one bad moment, but I found myself again and came through it completely. It also has to do with the mental. As a cyclist you should never let your head hang... That's a mental barrier that I've already bumped into, but which you have to go through every now and then."
Vermeersch has started his season at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var where he assisted his teammates Caleb Ewan and Tim Wellens to the win. His goals for the coming spring are perhaps surprising taking into attention his talent, but nevertheless he is set to make full cobbled classics campaign which should provide him the opportunities to aim big.
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