Soudal Quick-Step bring experienced lineup to Paris-Roubaix with Kasper Asgreen, Yves Lampaert and Tim Merlier set to lead the team

It has been another difficult cobbled Classics campaign for Soudal Quick-Step this season, as they failed to even contest the podium positions at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, with their best finisher being Yves Lampaert in 18th place over two minutes down on the race winner Mathieu van der Poel.

Their only shining light so far this Classics season has been Tim Merlier, as he took the victory at both the Danilith Nokere Koerse and Scheldeprijs this Spring, as well as a second place finish at the Classic Brugge-De Panne.

In the final race of the cobbled Classics at Paris-Roubaix this weekend, Merlier is set to lead the line for the team along with Yves Lampaert and Kasper Asgreen. They will be supported by Gianni Moscon, Casper Pedersen, Bert Van Lerberghe, and neo-pro Warre Vangheluwe.

Lampaert has been on the podium at this race before, as he finished in third place in 2019 and has had two other top-10 results at the Hell of the North in the past. Despite being a former winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Asgreen has always struggled at Paris-Roubaix, with his best result at the race being a 44th place finish in 2022.

Moscon has also gone well at this race in previous editions, as he finished just off the podium in fourth place in 2021 after being in the breakaway for the majority of the race. He also finished fifth in 2017 and if fortune favours him then he could have a chance to finally step onto the podium in the Roubaix velodrome.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s race, Soudal Quick-Step’s sports director Wilfried Peeters said “we have many guys with experience, riders who competed in this race several times in the past and can be up there. Paris-Roubaix is a special race, completely different from De Ronde; you also need some luck to feature in the finale, and we hope we can be there and get a good result at the end of the day”.