The Belgian Monument winner is excited to get things rolling with the Wolfpack.
Jasper Stuyven’s love for the Classics goes back to his junior days. Back in 2010, while wearing the World Champion jersey, he emerged as the fastest from a small four-man group to win Junior Paris-Roubaix, a success which he followed one year later with an impressive runner-up place in the U23 version of the race. Since then, he has built a remarkable palmares in the one-day races; Milano-Sanremo champion, winner of both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, and top ten finisher at De Ronde and Roubaix a combined total of five times.
A rider made for the Classics, Jasper will kick off his 13th year in the pro ranks wearing the iconic blue jersey of Soudal Quick-Step – an experience he is very much looking forward to.
I enjoyed the first training camp in Calpe.
“I was looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing what it was going to be like, and felt really welcomed by the riders, staff and sponsors. All this made me feel comfortable in the team from the beginning. Actually, I could go as far as saying that it was a bit like coming home because they gave me the feeling I’ve been around longer, not just a month.”
The 33-year-old’s road to the Spring Classics starts in the Iberian Peninsula, where Stuyven will pin on a number for the Volta ao Algarve, the five-day event taking place between 18-22 February which he knows well, having raced it seven times so far. It will be a good opportunity to compete for the first time together with his Soudal Quick-Step teammates before the first rendez-vous with the cobbles, at the beginning of March.
“Algarve is a nice race which I’ve done many times. From there, it’s straight to Belgium for the Opening Weekend. I haven’t been super competitive there in the last couple of years, because I know that I need to have my build-up for the one-day races coming later on, but with the team we have – which includes many new Classics guys – there’s a lot of motivation for those races.”
One of the only two active riders to have triumphed in both races of the Opening Weekend, Jasper knows that his main goals of the year will come later in the spring, but he is keen to use that opportunity to find out where the Wolfpack’s revamped cobbled Classics squad stands and what can be fine-tuned before the appointments scheduled at the end of March and beginning of April.
I’m really looking forward to that weekend, to see how we perform as a team and find out how well we work together.
“It’s a strong squad, with a nice mix of experienced and young riders, which has the potential to leave its mark on those races. Hopefully, everything goes well from the first race, but if that won’t be the case, we’ll take the positives and see how we can make it better for the next races.”
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
