If there was any doubt that Oier Lazkano is anything but the real deal in the cobbled Classics, the sight of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert immediately latching onto his attack during Friday's E3 Saxo Classic removed it.
Gone are the days of Juan Antonio Flecha and Oscar Freire, but Spain has a new man for the cobbles in Lazkano. He'll fly the flag on his chest and be a key player in the coming weeks, challenging the best the Netherlands and Belgium have to offer.
The Spanish champion was in fine form in yesterday's race, with his 14th-place finish not telling the whole story of another day bringing it to the superstars and showing off his talents suited to the Flemish Ardennes. He's continuing on from what we saw at Dwaars door Vlaanderen last year when he took second behind Christophe Laporte.
Lazkano attacked on the Stationsberg, 58km from the line in Harelbeke, and it was the world champion and eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel, and his eternal rival Visma-Lease a Bike leader Wout van Aert who closely followed, aware of the danger presented by the Clásica Jaén winner and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne podium-finisher.
Van der Poel would counter and get ahead with Van Aert on that occasion, but it highlighted the courage of the Basque, not afraid to bring it to the big guns in the crucial moments.
"Why not?," Movistar sports director Jürgen Roelandts told Cyclingnews of Lazkano's tactics after the finish. "He showed some good spirit no? But in the end, he was a bit empty."
Were Movistar pleased? "Definitely," said Roelandts, a runner-up at E3 himself in 2011 behind Fabian Cancellara.
It also hasn't been the easiest few weeks for Lazkano who, after looking strong in the break with Van Aert and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) to take a hard-earned third at Kuurne, was forced to skip Paris-Nice and take some time off the bike due to illness ahead of returning to the cobbles.
"He was a bit sick after the opening weekend, he didn't do Paris-Nice so his last race was Kuurne," Roelandts said.
"I think he had a pretty good race, we still have to talk with him but it's been almost three, four weeks since his last race and I think he did good, especially in a race as intense as [E3] Harelbeke."
After showing his strength early on in the race, Lazkano managed to slip away from the group of favourites that contested a tactical battle between the crest of the Taaienberg and the foot of the Paterberg.
The Basque rider was with former teammate Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and bridged to the remnants of the early break before he launched away from the American on the Boigneberg to go solo with a powerful surge.
He would last until the Paterberg where Van Aert crashed and Van der Poel made his race-winning move past the Spanish champion. He and Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) were the closest to holding the world champion's wheel, but the Dutchman's explosive power was too much for anyone.
"I tried to anticipate a bit. You never know in these races, that's why they are so beautiful," Lazkano said speaking from his team bus post-race.
"I lacked a little condition at the end due to having been off the bike for a week. You can't be at 98% here. I have good feelings, we were ahead in the key points and I will stick with that. This is the goal of the season for me and now the idea is to do Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix."
He will enjoy strong company come next Sunday's Tour of Flanders in Iván García Cortina, who was fifth at E3 last season but perhaps less on show, with Movistar in with a chance of a great result.
The rumours are circulating, however, that Bora-Hansgrohe are in the market for Lazkano to lead their Classics squad in the coming seasons, so Movistar will need to act quickly if they are to secure the Spanish Classics star-to-be in his contract year.
