09/01/2023

Yves Lampaert aims to the Northern Classics: "We want to try to offer a little more resistance to the Jumbo-Visma block"

Yves Lampaert had a mixed feelings 2022 season, despite winning the inaugural individual time trial in Tour de France getting to wear the yellow jersey, his Classics campaign went far from the ideal, with some misfortunes the Belgian cyclist who is known to be a rider to watch, specially in the Northern Classics got results quite far from what he is used to achieve.

However for 2023 the Belgian will be one of the key riders in Soudal-Quickstep lineup for those races,"I want to be present in the finals this year. We want to try to offer a little more resistance to the Jumbo-Visma block. After last year we can no longer say that we are the dominant team at the moment, but we will defend ourselves tooth and nail", stated Lampaert to HBYL.

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Another important rider that also had an unlucky season, Julian Alaphilippe will also be featured in the cobbles classics, making the Soudal-Quickstep Northern Classics block a difficult match to Jumbo-Visma one who got the better in the 2022 season.

"I expect him to ride all the races from the E3 Saxo Bank Classic to the Tour of Flanders. With a rider like that we can offer a lot more stamina. With Alaphilippe, Davide Ballerini, Kasper Asgreen and Florian Senechal we can still put up a good fight", he said.

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Still, Lampaert race program will not start and will not be excluded to just Classics has he stated,"I will race the Vuelta San Juan and then do a training camp in Calpe. There will be no other races until Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the end of February. I think it's good for me to build up my race pace in the heat of Argentina. Remco and Fabio Jakobsen will also make their debut there. After the opening weekend in Belgium I will ride the Paris - Nice and not the Strade Bianche. Then Milano-Sanremo, E3 Saxo Bank Classic and Gent-Wevelgem will follow" he reveled about his race calendar.

And there is also the possibility of seeing Lampaert at Giro d'Italia a race that he never went, "I know that Remco and the staff are looking for help with the flat stages. If I am well at that time and there is still a place, I want to be at the start. First I have to make sure that everything goes well in the classics" he concluded.