Ide Schelling optimistic about Astana Qazaqstan's chances on cobbles: "With guys like Cees Bol, myself and Alexey Lutsenko we can do it"

Ide Schelling has been racing for Astana Qazaqstan Team for almost two months now and he can't say a bad word about his new team. He was already quite close to winning in Oman and now he's getting the taste of cobbled classics with the Kazakh team as he gives a short interview to In de Leiderstrui.

"It went okay. I had good legs, but made a small stupid mistake after the Muur. As a result, I had to let go at the Bosberg. I was actually there before the Bosberg, but I was ten meters behind a hole on top of the Muur. That in itself was not a problem, but the gap remained that way for two minutes. So I had to ride at the limit during that period and then it was over quickly on Bosberg."

He eventually arrived 43rd, nearly two minutes behind the winner. "That was fine, but if I had been in the wheel directly I would have been there in the final. Then I could have finished in a nice place, so in the end I was disappointed about that."

So the legs were doing relatively well, he notes. He also feels at home with Astana Qazaqstan, even though it is not a team where you immediately think of Dutch riders or the classics. "It wasn't my first race with the team, of course. I had also raced in Oman. It's not normally Astana's specialty, but with guys like Cees Bol, myself and Alexey Lutsenko we have guys who can do it. I don't feel bad, that's nice."