As Wout van Aert eased up in the closing metres of Sunday's Ghent-Wevelgem and saluted his team-mate it was a coronation not just of Cristophe Laporte as the winner but of JumboVisma as rulers of the Classics in 2023.
The Dutch team has now won the three most hotly anticipated Belgian Classics of the spring so far and it has done so with three different riders.
At Omloop it was Dylan van Baarle with a solo attack; at E3 it was Wout van Aert outsprinting a duo of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar and on Sunday it was a dominant 1-2 with Christophe Laporte taking, gladly, the win van Aert handed him.
Laporte said: "It was still 50km to go when we attacked on the Kemmelberg and we made a lot of efforts together, we did everything to go to the finish together. It was so hard for me to follow Wout. I'm so proud to do so much of it with him."
Meanwhile, former Classics kings SoudalQuick Step has been largely anonymous.
The Belgian team's best Classic result so far has been a lone win for Tim Merlier at the minor classic Danilith Nokere Koerse.
At the races where Jumbo has stood atop the podium, Quick Step's best has been sixth with Davide Ballerini at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Denne historien er fra March 30, 2023-utgaven av CYCLING WEEKLY.
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Denne historien er fra March 30, 2023-utgaven av CYCLING WEEKLY.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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