"If someone had told me 'you are going to make it into the top 20' I would have been happy" - Luca Mozzato sprints to stunning second at Tour of Flanders

Prior to the 2024 Tour of Flanders, not many were touting the chances of Arkéa - B&B Hotels' sprinter, Luca Mozzato. As things came back together in a dramatic finale behind Mathieu van der Poel however, the Italian sensationally sprinted to second place.

“This is a result that exceeds my expectations. If this morning, someone had told me 'you are going to make it into the top 20,' I would have been happy, and 'in the top 10' I would have signed straight away. But on the podium..." reflects a disbelieving 26-year-old in his post-race recap for the official website of the Arkéa - B&B Hotels team.

"I think I made the effort at the right time. Everyone wanted to anticipate Van der Poel's attack. In my head, the objective was to pass as many mountains as possible in the first group by smoothing out my efforts. And it paid off in the end because in the last 30 or 40 kilometres, I was pretty good," Mozzato continues. "This was a race where everyone finished 'cooked' We were lucky to catch Bettiol and Teuns in the final sprint and I am very happy with this 2nd place.”

For the team too, this was a massive moment of success. “We must immortalize this moment! This first podium on a monument has value. The Tour of Flanders is one of the most beautiful classics in the world," says general manager, Emmanuel Hubert with delight. "For Luca, this 2nd place is a very good performance. He is a courageous man, a runner who 'does the job' as he should. He knows how to exploit everything to the millimetre. More broadly, this performance also shows that the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team is capable of evolving at the highest level.”