Patrick Lefevere was in good spirits ahead of the opening weekend of the Belgian road season, which kicks off with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 24 hours later.
Omega Pharma-QuickStep is the most successful team so far this season, with 13 wins, and Lefevere will be looking to pick up a win this weekend with marquee riders Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel both in form.
In this exclusive video with Cyclingnews, Lefevere talks about how he and the team were criticised over the past two seasons for being ‘too old fashioned’ and not winning enough races.
In the winter the team signed a raft of talented, proven winners with Tony Martin and Levi Leipheimer among the new signings.
Lefevere is well aware that those 13 wins will count for little in the eyes of the Belgian press if the team fails to make a major impact on the Classics and a win in either of this weekend’s races would be the perfect way to kick start their campaign.
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Daniel Benson is the Editor in Chief at both Cyclingnews.com and BikePerfect.com. Based in the UK, he has worked within cycling for almost 15 years, and he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he has reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he runs the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.