Trek-Segafredo have three cards to deal in Men's race at Flanders

John Degenkolb, Jasper Stuyven and Mads Pedersen will be Trek-Segafredo's three Aces to deal at the Tour of Flanders

The roster of Trek-Segafredo is ready to face the 270.1-kilometre race between Antwerp and Oudenaarde. "The plan for the upcoming races is indeed to tackle them in a similar way (as in Gent-Wevelgem): race aggressively, race together, use our strength," said Degenkolb, the German rider finished in the second position of Gent-Wevelgem.. "We have done our homework, put in a lot of dedication this Winter and now we just need to put it out on the road."

"The ideal scenario would be that we are still at least two guys up there on the final ascent of the Kwaremont because then you still have multiple cards to play. If you race in a smart way, you can support each other in a good way to save energy, but that being said I think we will definitely have to sacrifice some guys to be up there at the key moments. Flanders is all about positioning and if in those key moments you don't have anyone to make the positioning for you, it will cost you a lot of energy."

The rider commented that the leadership of the team will be decided depending on the way the race develops. "At a certain point every team, we included, will have to make choices and decide in which direction to go and who will be the guy who spends the least energy to have something left for the last part of the race.

"Who that guy will be for us, has not been decided yet and it is not my call to make. I definitely want to help the team to perform as well as possible. In the end, you never know what can happen in this race. Look at last year, nobody had expected Mads to be up there, but he finishes on the podium. That's what makes Flanders so special, really anything can happen."

Jasper Stuyven said “For myself I think I am more in the underdog position at the moment. I didn’t have the same feeling as last year in the previous races, so that’s not ideal but I think I am strong enough to be up there.”

“With the team we will have at the start, we can definitely get what we are aiming for and how we raced last Sunday, that’s the way we have to go out there again. We showed in Gent-Wevelgem that we were there in the final and John could stay easy in the group and Mads (Pedersen) and I attacked, and I think we never let Deceuninck-Quick-Step take full control. I think this is what we can also do in other races and it’s what we had in mind coming to these races, to begin with.”

Mads Pedersen: rounded up “It’s nice and exciting to be at the start line again after finishing 2nd last year. We have to show something now. As John just said, we did a good race last Sunday and we have to show it again next Sunday. The confidence could be higher, but I truly still believe we can do something good.”

The final line-ups for the Tour of Flanders:

Trek-Segafredo Women: Ellen van Dijk (NED), Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (FRA), Lotta Lepistö (FIN), Ruth Winder (USA), Trixi Worrack (GER)

Trek-Segafredo Men: Jasper Stuyven (BEL), John Degenkolb (GER), Mads Pedersen (DEN), Koen de Kort (NED), Alex Kirsch (LUX), Kiel Reijnen (USA), Edward Theuns (BEL)