SD Worx-Protime will toe the start line at this Sunday's Tour of Flanders with defending champion Lotte Kopecky and runner-up last year Demi Vollering, but Lidl-Trek's line-up should not be underestimated.
The American outfit will field two potential winners Elisa Longo Borghini, who won the race in 2015, and an on-form Shirin van Anrooij.
“I feel very good ahead of Flanders tomorrow. To say I am ‘super confident’ would be a little too much, but I am just really happy that I can ride with such a strong team next to me. We showed in the previous races that we really are a team, and when riding together, we can achieve great things, so I am really looking forward to Flanders," Longo Borghini said.
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“This is something that we, unfortunately, couldn’t do last year, and I wish people could really understand what we went through last year because many didn’t. This is our potential."
Lidl-Trek has been active in all of the Spring Classics, and Elisa Balsamo has won two of the one-days at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Classic Brugge-De Panne. Meanwhile. Longo Borghini and Van Anrooij have played a 1-2 punch, racing into breakaways and the top 10s.
The Italian Champion was third at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, second at Strade Bianche and sixth in the breakaway sprint at Dwars door Vlaanderen. Similarly, Van Anrooij was fourth at Omloop, fifth at Strade and second at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
"Finally, we are racing in a way that shows our full potential, and this could have been us last year, too, but because of many injuries and sickness, we couldn’t do what we knew we were capable of," Longo Borghini said.
"So, now, we are really just showing how strong we are, how strong we always have been, and how keen we are to make the race hard and to get the best out of every race.”
Van Anrooij said that while the Lidl-Trek team is proud of their Spring Classics campaign, so far, they want to achieve more. She believes that they can win Flanders if they continue to race with strong team cohesion.
Lidl-Trek's team at the Tour of Flanders will also include 2016 winner Lizzie Deignan, Lauretta Hanson, Elisa Balsamo and Lucinda Brand.
"Elisa [Longo Borghini] and me have been in a lot of finals together now and I think we will be there in Flanders again. With Lizzie, Lucinda, Lauretta and Barzi [Elisa Balsamo], we have proved in the past we can achieve results together, and so, I hope we can play the game the way we want to at Tour of Flanders," Van Anrooij said.
