Oliver Naesen is one of the many riders who's suffered with the emergence of a new generation that has raised the level in the cobbled classics. The Belgian rider talks of his goals for 2023 and how he's feeling after being on the back foot for several years on his terrain of specialty.
“I already had a crash in January and last week I had bronchitis in the Etoile de Bèsseges. Anyway, better now than in March. Hopefully I've had my share of bad luck this year," Naesen told Het Laatste Nieuws. The 32-year old is entering his seventh year with AG2R Citroën Team, where he hopes to - together with Greg van Avermaet - achieve meaningful results in the classics.
Although having some occasional success, over the past two seasons Naesen has failed to be consistent at the top of the cobbled classics, achieving Top10's at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, but not cracking it in the monuments. Lacking a win since 2019 as well, the situation becomes more complicated or Naesen.
“I don't say the word winning anymore and I just want to perform consistently," he admits. "When you've won a lot of big races like Sagan or even Greg Van Avermaet, it's hard to go home satisfied with a sixth place. But for me, who has never won a top classic, a place of honor remains clean. I will embrace them. Those points are becoming increasingly important. I approve. If only the winner is allowed to be content after the race, there must be a lot of unhappy rider.”
Together with van Avermaet, the duo have tried to stay towards the front in the cobbles, but 2022 proved to be a very hard season without any headline results to show for. Naesen reflects on what has changed over the year.
“In the period from 2017 to 2019, no one could drive me out of the wheel in the spring. Now there are two riders with Wout and Mathieu who can drive everyone out of the wheel. If you look at things in detail, you have two favorites in every classic, but they don't win everything. Dylan van Baarle is a fantastic rider, but not necessarily better than me," he views.
Now in contract year, the pressure is also on his shoulders to perform: “I have no experience in talking to other teams and I know it's a tough world. The spots are expensive. I can stay with my current team anyway: they have said that they are working on a spring project and that there is room for me, but I don't know more," he concluded.
After a difficult start to the season Naesen is looking to leave illness behind and is using the Tour of Oman as his final racing block before the start of the cobbled classics. As usual, he will be racing the opening weekend in two weeks and besides the full cobbled calendar, he will also race Paris-Nice and Milano-Sanremo.
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