CLASSICS PREVIEW

As cobbles season approaches, much later this year due to the pandemic, we run a rule over the riders, races and surprises to watch out for

- Stephen Puddicombe, James Shrubsall, Vern Pitt

THE MAIN PLAYERS

MADS PEDERSEN

Trek-Segafredo (24)

Best result: 2nd Tour of Flanders 2019

Just because Mads Pedersen’s victory at the World Championships last year was a surprise, does not mean it was a fluke. The young Dane had previously shown what he could do the year before when he finished second at the Tour of Flanders which, combined with that ride in Yorkshire, suggests he has a penchant for the very toughest races.

Pedersen recently bookended the Tour de France with second places in Nice and Paris, and will take form and confidence from that. Together with team-mate Jasper Stuyven (who won Het Nieuwsblad in the spring), he forms a formidable double-pronged attack for Trek-Segafredo.

YVES LAMPAERT

Deceuninck-Quick Step (28)

Best result: 2nd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2020

In many squads, finishing third at Paris-Roubaix would be enough to make you the outright leader at the following Classics season, but when it’s your team-mate, the highly-decorated Philippe Gilbert, that won that race, then it’s not so simple. So it was a stroke of luck for Lampaert that Gilbert has moved to Lotto-Soudal, launching Lampaert a couple of places up Deceuninck’s pecking order. He was the squad’s best rider at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last month, finishing second, showing he’s more than happy to shoulder that responsibility.