Among the questions posed to Soudal-QuickStep at the team press conference ahead of Sunday's Paris-Roubaix was the straightforward 'Who thinks he can win Paris-Roubaix?'
The squad joked among themselves as only Kasper Asgreen raised his hand initially, before four other riders eventually stuck theirs in the air after some coaxing among themselves.
There was a jovial atmosphere in the spacious showroom of team sponsor Renson, though after a brutally disappointing Spring Classics campaign for the Belgian squad there was a grain of truth in how the riders responded.
With two of this year's Classics 'big three', Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, lining up at the start in Compiègne, few pundits are confident in the team adding to their six cobble trophies, either.
But if they are to take their first title since 2019 on Sunday, adding a 62nd cobbled Classic victory in 20 years, then Asgreen stands out as the man most likely to triumph. Speaking to Cyclingnews, the 28-year-old Dane said things are looking up after a seventh place at the Tour of Flanders last weekend.
"I think a lot of things have gone wrong, both tactically and then we've also had a lot of riders sick and had to make changes in the roster," Asgreen said, summing up his team's Classics campaign. "I think in Flanders we finally got it right and I ended up racing the final.
"So we're on the right track and we are getting better and better. I think we need to continue the way we did in Flanders and hopefully, I'll be there again – and if I can have a teammate or two with me, even better."
After a knee injury sustained at last year's Tour de Suisse ruined the second half of his 2022 season, Agreen is now only just approaching his top form given his off-season was spent playing catch-up.
"It's been a long process to come back," he said. "We got the knee fixed last year during the fall, and I could restart my training in November as usual. But obviously when you have four months without structured training then it's a big gap to make up all of a sudden.
"I was still working on building up the muscle mass in my left leg again after my injury, even though the knee was still fine. It's been dragging on a little bit longer than we hoped for, but now at least the base condition seems to be finally there.
"Flanders is a much more explosive effort than Roubaix, so with my current condition, Roubaix should be a lot better. Those sustained high-power efforts are easier with your base condition."
Still, he has already proved that he can race in the final of a long, cobbled Monument with his result at Flanders. He and his Soudal-QuickStep teammates weren't near the front two of Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, but there's hope that a change of terrain will shake things up.
"Going deep at the end of a long race is something I can clearly do otherwise I wouldn't be in the finale of a 280km race like Flanders," Asgreen said. "So I am confident for Sunday that I have the shape and ability to do that.
"But first you have to get there and the last three times I did Roubaix I never seemed to get it right so that will be the focal point first of all.
"Generally I'm not a big believer in bad luck," he added, referring to his previous results at Roubaix. "Bad luck always seems to find the same riders – you need to look a little bit at the way you're riding maybe so you need to work on that.
"That's why I've spent a lot of time to go and recon the cobbles and work on my technique on how I ride the cobbles and so on."
'It's not always the favourites who win the race'
With Tom Boonen (four times), Niki Terpstra, and Philippe Gilbert, QuickStep have celebrated in the Roubaix velodrome more than any other team in recent history. They may not have the stand-out star like Boonen or Van Aert and Van der Poel, but they still have a trio of contenders and as much strength in depth as almost any team in the peloton.
Yves Lampaert, a podium finisher behind Gilbert in 2019, joins Asgreen in the line-up along with local boy Florian Sénéchal (sixth in 2019). Tim Declercq, Davide Ballerini, Tim Merlier and Bert Van Lerberghe complete a powerful squad.
"Like you see, we have seven strong riders, and we all have experience at Paris-Roubaix," team directeur sportif Wilfred Peeters – himself twice a podium finisher in the event – said.
"We are not the big favourites, even if the big favourites are different than at the Tour of Flanders. We need to have as many riders as possible in the final – then we can compete with Jumbo and Alpecin.
With a third at the Classic Brugge-De Panne, Lampaert has delivered the team's best result at a top-level Classic so far, while Merlier sprinted to victory at Nokere Koerse. The Flandrian rides his eighth Roubaix on Sunday and is always there or thereabouts, with three other top-10 placings on the palmarès to go with his lone podium spot to date.
"It's not always the favourites who win the race, not always the strongest," he said. "Everyone has a chance.
"I'm super motivated. It's a mythical race and one day the pieces will fall in place for me. It's the Monument that suits me the best. I already achieved some great results here and it makes me dream of more.
"Last week I was at a good level and now I hope to continue like this. We're hoping for a podium place with the team, and, like many others, we hope to put our spring season to rights."
A spring cobbled classics campaign is often boom or bust, with relative 'off-years' with only a minor race win such as 2020, 2022 or this season offset by the smorgasbord of wins racked up in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
"We would like to win, of course, but even if we had a brilliant Classics season then we would also like to win here," Asgreen said.
"If we could win or podium at Roubaix, then it would make up for a lot of the results we had so far. It's one of those races where you can save the whole spring campaign.
"Pressure is a strange concept for me because we always do the best we can. It doesn't matter what the build-up has been or what results we've had. We would always like to win everything."
The Wolfpack is ready to take on @parisroubaix 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EaYXgLuTKlApril 6, 2023
