The names on the jersey and the riders wearing them have varied over the years, but the question seems to recur just about every time the Tour of Flanders rolls around. After a run of success that has seen Deceuninck-QuickStep rack up victories in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and the E3 BinckBank Classic, the conundrum facing the 2019 Ronde peloton is a well-worn one: how do you beat a team with so many potential race winners?
Since the 1990s, Patrick Lefevere's teams have been the standard bearer at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, rather like the New England Patriots in the NFL. There are years when riders from other teams produce remarkable individual performances to exceed their benchmark – most notably Fabian Cancellara in the early part of this decade – but no collective has matched the consistency and success of QuickStep on the first two Sundays in April.
Philippe Gilbert, Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar and Bob Jungels will all set out from Antwerp on Sunday carrying an equal share of the responsibility to claim Ronde victory for Deceuninck-QuickStep. Cycling history is littered with examples of teams riven by internal rivalry, but some way, somehow, Lefevere's squad has repeatedly managed to tread the fine line between healthy intramural competition and outright conflict.
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Nick Nuyens experienced the balancing act first-hand when he raced for QuickStep from 2003 to 2006. He smiles at how the team's code of loyalty has been commoditised in recent seasons, but the philosophy behind it, he says, is genuine.
"What I see is something I recognise. The 'Wolfpack' name is also marketing, of course, but it is just like that and it works," Nuyens tells Cyclingnews. “It worked 15 years ago and it’s still working. Patrick Lefevere has for years managed to have team full of top riders who all want to work for each other and it’s not as easy as it seems.
Individual ambition can divide a team as readily as unite one, but Lefevere appears content to encourage personal goals so long as they serve the common purpose. After Stybar's E3 BinckBank Classic victory, for instance, he gently chided Lampaert and Gilbert's lack of success to this point, a timely reminder a week out from the Ronde. When a reporter recounted how Lampaert said everything the team touched turned to gold, Lefevere quipped: "Yves himself is turning gold into something." All part of the process, Nuyens suggests.
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You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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