Laurens De Plus set for "voyage of discovery" on long-awaited Tour of Flanders debut

Someone long regarded as an elite level climber and super-domestique at the INEOS Grenadiers, Laurens De Plus gets a chance to prove himself in a different environment this Easter Sunday at the Tour of Flanders.

“The reason I start here is a lot of luck for me, but a lot of bad luck for my teammates,” the 28-year-old tells Wielerflits ahead of the start of the racing earlier this morning. "I always wanted to be here, but I was only the last man to fill in for the fallen Jhonatan Narvaez. It has always been a dream to ride here. I am convinced that strong climbers should also be able to handle this terrain. In modern cycling you have to be able to hold your own everywhere. I'm going to make the best of it. Why not with a good result, or a good race?”

As a Belgian, the Flanders Classics always mark a key point on the calendar and although he's never before managed to ride he Tour of Flanders, De Plus has long been keen to experience the race. “A voyage of discovery, you could call it," he explains. "But the Tour of Flanders is also really different from the other cobbled classics in the spring."

"It is a course of 270 kilometres, with many slopes. In the end, it is simply about the watts per kilogram that you can still pedal,” De Plus concludes optimistically.