With a Tour des Flandres debut in sight, the young Slovenian mega-talent will be racking in some experience for the future, but is not to discard as the Flandrien bergs are set to have a massive important in the second monument of the season. Tomorrow though, he will be looking to get used to the racing in Belgium: "My teammate
Matteo Trentin knows these Classics races as well as anyone, so we’ll look to his experience in the team for sure. It’s a bit of a step into the unknown but one I’m very excited for."
On paper, team leader on the road will be the experienced Matteo Trentin who has returned to his winning ways in the cobbles earlier this month at Le Samyn: "I think Tadej can also perform well here, it’s a different style of racing but he can adapt well," the Italian said. It’s a pleasure to ride with him and I have no doubt he’ll be strong. I believe we have a group that’s capable of doing good things. Hopefully we can get as many of our guys as possible deep into the final, then anything is possible. I’m still coming back to top shape after the crash but I’m optimistic for Flanders. I know the race well and that counts for a lot in the Classics,"
UAE Team Emirates for Dwars door Vlaanderen: Tadej Pogacar, Matteo Trentin,
Mikkel Bjerg,
Vegard Stake Laengen,
Rui Oliveira and
Oliviero Troia.