"Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel are so strong..." - Stuyven excited but cautious to lead Quick-Step on the classics

Jasper Stuyven has spent his entire professional career at Lidl-Trek, over a decade, and is now for the first time moving away into a different environment. At age 33, the Belgian still has a strong word in the classics and got the trust of Soudal - Quick-Step for a three-year deal where he will be leading the cobbled classics block.

Having turned pro in 2014 with Lidl-Trek, where he has achieved a lot including victories at Milano-Sanremo, Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, Vuelta a España and more; he felt like it was time for something new. Stuyven was fifth at last year's E3 Saxo Classic and Tour of Flanders, showing he has the legs to still be in contention for the major races, but with Mads Pedersen and a whole host of developing classics specialists, his importance in the team had diminished.

"Of course, I wasn't happy to hear that. But the team also understood that there were probably many other teams that still saw me in that role as leader," Stuyven shared in words to Sporza. "That made the decision to leave easier, because I think I'm definitely still valuable in the Spring Classics."

A team with so much tradition, experience and staff that raced alongside and against him; it felt like a natural decision for the Belgian to join the team that marked Belgium's cobbled classics the most this century. "It wasn't that I was tired of Lidl-Trek. But when negotiations with Soudal - Quick-Step started, I felt it was time for a new team".

He joins in with Dylan van Baarle, an equally experienced figure in the classics and former Paris-Roubaix winner; whilst Paul Magnier is also expected to evolve not only as a sprinter but mainly as a man who can thrive in the cobbles. However Stuyven is aware that with a bigger role comes bigger responsibility, and he is dealing with generational athletes when it comes to the cobbled classics.

And currently, Quick-Step can't really expect to have tactical races in the monuments where the team can really benefit from a hypothetical depth. "That's the idea, of course, but everyone is also realistic enough. Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel are so strong that they quickly force a man-to-man situation".

"It does give you more confidence and motivation to know that you can go to the Classics with a strong team,” he insists. Stuyven may however benefit from his new position, which means that often other riders will be the ones going on the attack earlier whilst he can have a more conservative posture.

"That way, you don't have to react to everything yourself, and you can create a situation where you don't have to ride in a chasing group". That could ultimately benefit him, but it is up to his teammates to also have the legs to create such situations.

On van der Poel and Pogacar, he didn't want to answer directly to whether he expects to beat them or not. "I'd like to be able to say I have an answer to that. But I don't. But I'll still start a race with the idea that I'm going to try to win that race. You can also get a lot of satisfaction from riding finals and fighting for a victory or podium finish in the Classics," the veteran concluded.