“We cannot deny that it is a shame” - Dries Van Gestel on TotalEnergies’ reduced Spring Classics schedule

After two eighteenth place finishes at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Le Samyn, it has been a steady start to the Spring Classics for Dries Van Gestel, who was disappointed to miss out on Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after his TotalEnergies team were not granted a wildcard entry for the first Flemish Classic of the season.

In an interview with WielerFlits after the midweek semi-classic, Van Gestel said “I would have liked to ride the Omloop, but it is now clear that I have to seize all the opportunities available. Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was the first, and things went quite well there”.

After they failed to finish high enough in the UCI team rankings to gain an automatic invitation for this season’s WorldTour races, TotalEnergies will now miss many of the year’s Spring Classics. This comes after Peter Sagan’s retirement from professional cycling, as he left the team at the end of last season, which has made race organisers less inclined to give an invite to the French teams.

On the somewhat lacklustre Classics schedule, Van Gestel said “we cannot deny that it is a shame. We are not doing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, no E3 Saxo Classic, no Ronde van Vlaanderen. But fortunately, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix. So there is still something on the agenda. I am certainly not dissatisfied”.

Van Gestel will return to WorldTour racing next week, as he heads to Paris-Nice before resuming his Classics campaign at the Grand Prix de Denain in mid-March.