Classics and time trial specialist Stefan Küng heads into the Opening Weekend this Saturday for his ninth participation in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – that means the 31-year-old has had greater than sufficient visits to the race startline in Gent to know that it is by no means too smart to make too many predictions about what can occur.
It’s not simply that Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will seemingly be the Groupama-FDJ racer’s solely Classic earlier than Paris-Nice. More to the purpose, yearly when Omloop comes round, skilled racers like Küng are all too conscious of how dramatically Omloop raises the bar when it comes to situation and type calls for in comparison with what’s come earlier than within the season.
While Küng’s greatest end in Omloop is a relatively low-key ninth in 2020, he is received a lot extra success in related occasions to spice up his morale earlier than Saturday. Just to call the races he is doing this spring, he is taken podium locations in each E3 and Dwars door Vlaanderen, within the Tour of Flanders he has a fifth and a sixth place, and in Paris-Roubaix, he has been prime 5 or higher yearly since 2022, when he claimed third.
First although, is Omloop, however Küng is preaching warning, for now, relating to his probabilities, as a result of as he advised Cyclingnews throughout the Volta ao Algarve, his solely earlier race to Omloop, “It’s the primary race of the season, you at all times work onerous over the winter and also you by no means know precisely how you’re doing.
“You have an concept, nevertheless it’s at all times good to be again in racing and to be centered on this good begin to the season. Because as soon as this [Algarve] is completed, the intense enterprise begins.”
Küng positioned a lowkey thirtieth within the remaining time trial in Algarve, a stage the Swiss star may need discovered disappointing, given he presently has 22 time trials in his palmares, two of them within the Portuguese race. But Küng had already mentioned that the brand new Algarve TT format of an uphill end did him no favours, and as he advised Eurosport afterwards after grinding his option to the summit of the Alto do Malhão, “It was not probably the most nice one”.
“I wished to complete the Volta ao Algarve with an excellent feeling on the bike, however generally it is higher when it is not 100% but, to provide the physique time to get better and be prepared for the Opening weekend and what comes after.
The newest race content material, interviews, options, opinions and professional shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
“Now I’m not flying but, so I’m not very, very comfortable, nevertheless it’s the primary race of the season, we modified our method a bit, so we now have to belief the method as a result of the work we did over the winter was good. I’ve little question I’ll be prepared for the Spring Classics.”
Küng identified that his completely different method means he isn’t fairly firing on all cylinders like he has been at this level within the yr, however “for positive the massive targets are in April”.
“I simply want to remain calm, get better, do Omloop and Paris-Nice and the legs will solely enhance. As an athlete, you prefer to have good emotions within the first race of the season, however it’s nonetheless solely the primary race. So I believe my expertise helps me to remain calmer than I’d have been 5 years in the past,” he concluded.
The debate over whether or not it is attainable to get a greater concept of type for the upcoming challenges in Belgium from races just like the Algarve is a perennial one. But Küng comes firmly down on the facet of those that suppose you may come away with a variety of helpful data for the spring from 5 days of racing in Portugal.
“I’d say you may study so much as a result of there are the outcomes, there’s how you feel and there is the way you react to efforts within the race,” he advised Cyclingnews. “It provides you a sign of the way you stand.
“Also, it is good to have race kilometres within the legs earlier than the beginning of the Classics for positive. That’s at all times going to assist.”
While the aim in Omloop is at all times to attain the very best consequence, Küng is unwilling to place a quantity on the sort of consequence he’d prefer to have earlier than the race. It’s not simply his personal normal uncertainty he has to deal with, as he defined, but additionally that “with a brand new yr, there’s at all times a brand new sort of dynamics within the Classics”.
“We’ve additionally received some new guys within the crew, too, there’s been a little bit of a turnover, so we’ll know extra after it.
“I do know this race fits me nevertheless it’s the primary of the season so it is onerous to foretell something specifically. Until you race that first Classic, you by no means actually know the way you’re.”
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for limitless entry to our 2025 Spring Classics protection. Don’t miss any of the breaking information, studies, and evaluation from all of the Cobbled Classics from Opening Weekend to Paris-Roubaix. Find out extra.