For many European road teams, a win at a major spring classic can go a long way toward calling the season a success. With Peter Van Petegem’s win at the Tour of Flanders last Sunday, his Lotto-Domo squad, beloved by their Belgian fans, has one feather in its cap already. And Telekom had a pleasant surprise when its 27-year-old German Andreas Klier stole a win at Ghent-Wevelgem Wednesday.

But two days before the 101st running of Paris-Roubaix, arguably the most prestigious race of all the spring classics, one team is growing restless for a win: Quick Step-Davitamon. Stacked with talent, the Belgian-based Quick Step squad seems custom-made for the rough-and-tumble spring classics. But in the past week, Quick Step’s experiences on the road have been rough. And they have also included a couple of tumbles.

Out in the fields surrounding cobblestone paths stretching between the outer Paris suburb of Compiègne, where the race will start at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and Roubaix, where it will finish 261 kilometers later, the clear fan favorite will be wearing the blue-and-white Quick Step colors. Leading the team will be Johan Museeuw, on a quest for Paris-Roubaix win No. 4 at age 37. And with the winner of two years ago (Servais Knaven), plus the third-place finisher of 2002 (Tom Boonen), not to mention this year’s runner up at Flanders, Frank Vandenbroucke, Quick Step’s odds look good on paper.

Museeuw rode aggressively at Flanders and Ghent. In fact, the whole team did. Judging from the manner in which the Quick Steps were able to turn the screws in most of the situations they wanted to, it appeared that Museeuw’s squad was in control at both of those races. Yet in both cases they came up short at the finish line. Vandenbroucke was outsprinted by Van Petegem at Flanders; and despite having two of four in the final showdown at Ghent-Wevelgem, the best the team could manage was third.

The easy part

Making matters worse, after Boonen was, in the words of Henk Vogels of the Navigators, “punked” at the finish line in Wevelgem, the Belgian plowed into a crowd of photographers, cart-wheeling over the pavement and sustaining some minor cuts and bruises. Vogels, who finished second in that sprint, said Boonen appeared “inexperienced and nervous” in the closing kilometers of that race. With Boonen and Knaven teaming up against the other two, Ghent was by most accounts Quick Step’s race to lose.

The team’s other marquee World Cup rider, Paolo Bettini, didn’t even make it to the finish on Wednesday. The Italian was involved in a crash early in the race and he left in an ambulance with an injured shoulder.

If the events of the previous week have had any effect on the team’s morale, however, Museeuw’s not saying so. "We're in a pretty determined frame of mind,” he said Friday. “It's a tough race and experience is important. But most important is having a team that can stick together. And we have that team."

Many of the teams that will line up at the start on Sunday went out on scouting missions Thursday and Friday to ride sections of pavé. The forecast is for dry conditions over the weekend, but there are no guarantees in the “Hell of the North.” On Thursday, there were snow flurries close to some of the northern portions of the course.

Like last year, there will be 26“secteurs” of pavé in Sunday’s race. In all, 49.1km of the race’s261km will be unpaved.