Philippe Gilbert impressed by Kasper Agreen at Tour of Flanders: "All the pressure was on him"

Former Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen could only manage a seventh placed finish this time around but Philippe Gilbert has revealed how the Soudal - Quick-Step rider impressed him with his performance on the Flemish cobbles.

“Asgreen had a great race, of course,” Gilbert said to Cycling Weekly. “I talked to him after the finish. After the crash, all the pressure was on him. It was great that he could still manage to get away with the group that he did, and get his chance to be in the position to win. I know that when you get deep in the final of either race, your legs are speaking more than anything else.”

The crash Gilbert mentioned turned out to be one of the biggest talking points of the race. As Filip Maciejuk lost control and wiped out half of the peloton, Soudal - Quick-Step's hopes of a race win seemed to have been left in tatters with Yves Lampaert and Julian Alaphilippe ruled out of contention.

“After the huge crash happened because of the Bahrain rider, the race was finished for Lampaert and Alaphilippe," Gilbert explains. "They were caught in the crash and suffered from it, and they never recovered.”