"We're not going to do the conga line just because Wout finishes in the top 10"; what does Visma | Lease a Bike need to do to win the Tour of Flanders?

Through a statement from his team, the German briefly reflected on what happened on Wednesday. "After that disappointment, we've had time to look at the positive aspects of the race. We executed our plan to take control of the race early and go on the offensive perfectly, and we largely imposed our will on the peloton. That’s what we stand for, and that’s what we should take away from Wednesday," he said.

But then came a 'however.' "The race and the competition are much tougher in the Tour of Flanders. We don’t have the top favorite in our team, but we have to play to our strength in depth. We’re confident we can play our part. Everyone is in good shape: from Edoardo Affini and Tosh Van der Sande to Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert. The Tour of Flanders is one of the most beautiful races of the year and is always one of our main goals. So everyone is looking forward to making it a great race."

“In those analyses, we look at ourselves but also at our opponents. Ideally, we’d find a weakness we can exploit, but with Tadej and Mathieu, that’s not so easy in these kinds of races,” Niermann says, referring to tough classics like the Tour of Flanders. “We have to be honest about that too.”