Misery, misery and misery. Everything seems to be going wrong with Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl at the moment. While The Wolfpack usually dominates the classics, it is now taking one hit after another due to illness and misfortune. The numbers confirm what everyone has been expecting: This is the worst spring of the decade.
The contrast with last year couldn’t be greater. Kasper Asgreen then triumphed in the Ronde by beating Mathieu van der Poel in the sprint.
Also yesterday, Dane was the best man in Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl. He only came…in 23rd after bad luck at Koppenburg.
It symbolizes the classic spring of the Wolfpack. Nothing escaped them. In recent weeks, Patrick Lefevre’s team has seen Yves Lambert, Julian Alaphilippe and David Ballerini withdraw due to illness.
Principal assistant Tim Declercq has been out for a long time due to a heart condition. And whoever was fit, he had the necessary amount of bad luck. Chain breaks, punctures, and falls: I’ve been watching Quick Step for the past few weeks.
The overview with The Wolfpack’s best man in the eight classic spring races at the World Tour level looks pretty poor.
| competition | best rider | place |
|---|---|---|
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | Florian Basic | 9 |
| You’ll want a bianch | Casper Asgren | 3 |
| Milan – Sanremo | Florian Basic | 14 |
| Brugge – de Ban | Michael Morkovo | 12 |
| E3 Classic | Casper Asgren | 10 |
| Ghent – Wevilgem | Casper Asgren | 32 |
| Straight through Flanders | Yannick Steimlei | 14 |
| A tour of Flanders | Casper Asgren | 23 |
On average, this drops to 15th place. Swallow. Patrick Lefevre’s side have not scored the worst goals in the last decade. This year’s lowest was the eighth-ranked average in 2015 and 2016.
Quick Step is still waiting for its first big World Tour win during the Spring Classic. This only happened in 2016. In all the other years, the crew had caught at least one big fish at this point. The fact that Wolfpack has barely 1 platform and 3 top ten positions is also unprecedented.
| year | average better racer |
victories | platform | Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15th | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2021 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 2020 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 2019 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 |
| 2018 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| 2017 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 2016 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 2015 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 2014 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 2013 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 2012 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
* In the period when Driedaagse De Panne was still a stage race, the final rating was included in the average. Because of Corona, not all competitions were paid in 2020.
Things can only get better in the coming weeks. Will Quick Step’s fortune turn into Roubaix in two weeks?
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