Soudal Quick-Step sees a way to beat Pogacar and Van der Poel in spring classics

Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel have dominated the spring classics for several seasons now, so it's up to the competition to come up with an answer. Niki Terpstra, as the new team director of Soudal Quick-Step, knows exactly what needs to be done: according to the former rider, it's all about the collective.

Soudal Quick-Step was for years the team to beat in the spring classics, but the Belgian squad has not had a rider of Pogacar's or Van der Poel's caliber for some time. So the team has to take a different, more collective approach.

"The hardest part is already done by assembling a strong team. That has been very successful. Now we need to forge a solid group that is willing to go through fire for each other," says Terpstra, who has been part of the pro peloton again as a team director since this year, in an interview with Sporza.

"We have a few top riders, including monument winners and classics victors, and a young talented rider who is very ambitious. We also have riders who can support our leaders very well. That’s the strength we need to rely on — that power across the board."

Terpstra hopes to put Van der Poel and Pogacar under pressure. "They can be beaten. But that has to happen as a group. Individually, they’re so strong that it will be very difficult. They’re human too, as we saw in the Amstel Gold Race. That’s where we need to draw strength from. With good tactics and a strong group, they can be beaten."

Numerical advantage
And how does this look in practice? "If they launch an attack 120 kilometers from the finish, we have to follow. The finale is still far away then. If you have enough men there, you can take turns in the old-fashioned way, or force them to chase behind you with teammates on their wheels. You have to be able to play that out, but enough riders have to be upfront."

"Of course, we can look fondly at the past and how we did it then. But times have changed. We can draw morale from how we used to do it, but we will also have to come up with some new things," Terpstra stresses.