"We’re practically living at the foot of the Koppenberg during these weeks": Uno-X aims for Monument glory after Waerenskjold's podium at Dwars door Vlaanderen

Soren Waerenskjold sprinted to a highly impressive third place at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, finishing just behind powerhouses Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert. The result caps off a very solid week on the cobbles for the Uno-X Mobility squad, leaving Sports Director Gino Van Den Oudenhove highly optimistic ahead of the upcoming Monuments.

Uno-X took a strategic gamble at Dwars door Vlaanderen, fielding a younger lineup to protect some of their core riders for the Tour of Flanders. While the grueling race took its toll (five of the team's riders did not finish, and only Waerenskjold and Abrahamsen made it to the finish), the two who made the decisive front group were exactly the right men for the job.

“Actually, our race didn’t go that well. We only had two riders in that front group, but they were the right two riders,” Van Den Oudenhove explained to IDLProCycling. “We also went with a younger line-up because we wanted to save some of our men for Sunday. Waerenskjold was then able to follow the other sprinters and we knew he could still go a long way in that sprint. That proved to be true, even if it would have been even nicer had it been for the win.”

Alongside Waerenskjold's podium, Jonas Abrahamsen has been a revelation for the Norwegian outfit. Following a fifth-place finish at the E3 Saxo Classic and a ninth-place run at Flanders Fields (Gent-Wevelgem), Abrahamsen was once again ever-present on the sharp climbs at Dwars door Vlaanderen.

For Van Den Oudenhove, the team's growing comfort on the highly technical Flemish roads is the result of total immersion. “Abrahamsen is among the best riders in the race, in that group just behind Van der Poel and Pogacar. So we are in the fight, and Jonas just needs to keep building,” the sports director noted.

“Everything is starting to come together: the strength, but certainly also the knowledge of how to approach these Flemish races. Those Norwegians weren’t born here, but they are starting to understand how these races unfold. Make no mistake, these are very specific races. We’re practically living at the foot of the Koppenberg during these weeks, so every metre we ride from there adds something to that learning process.”

With the Tour of Flanders arriving this Sunday, followed quickly by the "Hell of the North" at Paris-Roubaix, Uno-X is no longer content to just participate, but they are aiming for the top of the results sheet. Van Den Oudenhove laid out clear and ambitious targets for his two star riders across the next two weekends.

“I’m hoping for a top-five finish in the Tour of Flanders with Abrahamsen,” he stated without hesitation. “And Abra will also ride Paris-Roubaix, but there I expect more from Waerenskjold. He already finished ninth there in 2024, and last year he was in the mix again until he crashed at Carrefour de l’Arbre.”