"I have gained a lot of confidence" - After training camp with Wout van Aert, Jan Tratnik ready to tackle cobbles and Tour of Flanders

Jan Tratnik had absolutely superb form throughout February and had a superb win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to seal that off. On paper, he will be a secondary card for Team Visma | Lease a Bike throughout the upcoming cobbled classics; but he can certainly ride to another triumph this spring.

"After a successful weekend in Belgium, there wasn't much time to celebrate. Barely two days off before we had to pack our suitcases for Tenerife for an altitude training camp," Tratnik wrote on his own website. "Camping under the volcano for three weeks. The first four days were all about adapting to the high altitude (2150m), with mainly easy and shorter training sessions. Then we started more serious training of four to six hours. The shorter rides were high intensity, while the longer ones were just for long rides and fun, even though you're already pretty tired after six hours of training.”

He, Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot and Per Strand Hagenes spent three weeks at altitude ahead of the main cobbled classics block whilst the likes of Matteo Jorgenson, Christophe Laporte and Dylan van Baarle raced a more traditional calendar. Van Baarle hasn't showed great form so far whilst Laporte is currently ill, so the Slovenian's role grows within the team - specially after his performances at the Opening Weekend.

"Because of the tough training, every rest day came in handy. To be honest, it's the rest days that drag on a bit. But in good company we completed all the training perfectly and I think we are more than ready to continue racing in Belgium," he says, promising good form into the E3 Saxo Classic this Friday where Visma will face Mathieu van der Poel for the first time this year. "The E3 Saxo Classic is the first, followed by Dwars door Vlaanderen and then the biggest: the Tour of Flanders."

"After a successful month of February, I can't wait to take advantage of the good preparations and focus all my training on the competitions," Tratnik explains. Having done the same preparation as Wout van Aert, Team Visma | Lease a Bike will hope for a competitive edge over the rest, having focused less on competition now in March and more on training. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are the ultimate goals.

"I think I have gained a lot of confidence and that is sometimes even more important than the form itself. After three Belgian classics, the first block of competitions and preparations is over. I don't have any races planned in April. First rest well, because then I have to prepare for the Giro. It's a busy schedule, but because everything is going the way I want it, I'm just enjoying it."