Soudal-QuickStep may have the third-most wins of any team so far in the 2023 season, but Friday's E3 Saxo Classic brought another misstep in what has been a miserable spring Classics campaign for the Belgian squad.
As the titans of Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Tadej Pogačar did battle at the front of the 204km race, the Classics powerhouse struggled to 16th place over two minutes down via Yves Lampaert, while fellow team leaders Julian Alaphilippe and Florian Sénéchal were among the DNFs.
Lampaert's third place at the Classic Brugge-De Panne remains their only podium of the major races so far this Classics season, even if Tim Merlier won Nokere Koerse. Soudal-QuickStep team boss Patrick Lefevere wrote in his Saturday morning Het Nieuwsblad column that his meal on Friday afternoon was the only good part of his day.
"During the E3 Saxo Classic, I had a tasty lunch in Waregem. With that, I had everything that was good yesterday – the food," Lefevere wrote. "The team's performance was below par. I understand not being with the three in the front, they are phenomena. But no-one being in the group behind them either? Sorry, but that's not Soudal-QuickStep.
"On the bus, I gave my thoughts, as always, without shouting. Then I heard from Kasper Asgreen – I did my best, from Florian Sénéchal – I fell, from Julian Alaphilippe – I woke up with a stomach ache and slight fever. What do you want me to say to that? If you have a fever, you shouldn't start."
The team had set out in Harelbeke with one of the strongest seven-man lineups in the peloton but couldn't make an impact at the sharp end of the race, with Lampaert the only man to finish with seven minutes of race winner Wout van Aert.
It's a far cry from the history of success the team has enjoyed at E3. Since its foundation in 2003, eight titles have come their way – five via Tom Boonen and one apiece through Niki Terpstra, Zdenek Stybar, and Asgreen.
Lefevere suggested that on Friday, his team had burnt their matches too early, getting on the front midway through the five-hour race but not being there when the decisive moves were made later.
"I had already seen it during the race. We were riding very aggressively at the front, 90km from the finish," he wrote. "Alaphilippe and Asgreen were in front. If you already make the race at that moment, it's because you know what's going to happen later.
"Fitte [DS Wilfred Peeters] says: 'You have to be in front on the Taaienberg, Patrick'. I agree, but there's a difference between being in front and racing full gas.
"Now, there's one week left until the Tour of Flanders. A lot can happen in that time, but whether we can compete against Pogačar, Van Aert, and Van der Poel? For that, we have to light not one but five candles."
Lefevere also contrasted his team with Alpecin-Deceuninck, suggesting the team around Mathieu van der Poel rises to the level of their Dutch leader and noting that Søren Kragh Andersen had re-emerged as a Classics force after several lean years.
He concluded by mooting his own team's plans for Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem, where we could see their two top sprinters in the lineup as Soudal-QuickStep seek their first big Classics win of the year.
"I can't afford a spring rider of the level of Van der Poel but hats off to the Roodhooft brothers – they are taking the risk with Kragh Andersen, and it's paying off," Lefevere wrote.
"We have no surplus in our spring squad, especially since Casper Pedersen and Dries Devenyns have fallen ill. In Gent-Wevelgem, meanwhile, we are considering doing what we don't really want to do – drafting in both Tim Merlier and Fabio Jakobsen.
"Fabio is keen to ride, and we don't have many arguments to leave him at him. In Gent-Wevelgem, we can already help him forget E3, and if that fails, then Mauro Schmid can win the Settimana Coppi & Bartali as early as today."
