Oier Lazkano motivated but realistic with ambitions into cobbled classics: "We don't have a leader in our team who can compete with Pogacar, Van der Poel and Van Aert"
Cycling
Oier Lazkano is one of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's many signings and he will be quite ambitious into the coming spring. However, the Spaniard knows that even with a strong block it will be very hard to challenge the classics' top rider who simply look a level above the rest.
"Of course I will miss Movistar and all my friends at that team. For example, with my new team I have to be at the dinner table at 7 p.m. So early, typical for a team from the north," he jokes. "I'm very happy that I made the switch to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. The team has confidence in me and the same goes for me. This new chapter will offer me opportunities," the Spaniard shared with Sporza.
Alongside the likes of Jan Tratnik, Laurence Pithie and the van Dijke twins, the Spaniard was signed to perform at his best in these races and after what he showed at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne for example this year, he's proven to be a great contender - specially when the race features climbing, as is the case with the Tour of Flanders.
"I just really like racing in Flanders. Not because of the weather, because I don't like the rain. But because the classics guarantee spectacle. There is no fixed scenario and there are always surprises, even though we almost always ride the same course in Flanders," he explains. "I don't know why, but I prefer the Tour to Roubaix. I dream of being the first Spaniard ever to win Flanders' Finest."
"We don't have a leader in our team who can compete with Pogacar, Van der Poel and Van Aert. But we do have a very strong team across the board. We have to use that in a smart way. If I give it my all, the results with this team will come naturally. I don't want to pin a specific result on that. But of course you always want to win."
Now with a team that pays more attention to the spring classics - the team also signed Maxim van Gils and Finn Fisher-Black as interesting contenders for the Ardennes and hilly races - Lazkano will look to add to his seven pro wins.
Jokingly, he was presented this year as the rider who would've liked to be a porn star, "but that's not true of course," he exlpains. "Before the start of the E3 Harelbeke, I was asked a stupid question and I gave a stupid answer to it. That also typifies me. I'm serious when I have to be and I also like to joke. The riders know that by now and so do the cycling followers".
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