Brecht Decaluwé

Quick-Step boss held out hope until the end: 'Yesterday I told the guys that they should stay calm and don't act crazy, not race more nervously.'

Evenepoel over the moon: 'It’s my dream race. It’s a race that I really wanted to win in my life once.'

Jumbo-Visma star closes out the 2022 classics with another podium in a ‘sprint of dying swans,’ but laments missing out on a mission to win a monument this spring.

'He felt conscious but he couldn’t really talk. I really hope that he’s OK,' Bardet says after coming to Alaphilippe's aid.

'I think that I might have used up one of my lives today,' says British rider as classics season ends with a crash.

The incident summed up Quick-Step's trials and tribulations during this year's northern classics campaign.

Van der Poel content on injury comeback after top-10s at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix and victory at Tour of Flanders.

Wout van Aert on comeback podium: ‘Every classic is hard, but Roubaix is utter chaos and a suffer-fest until the finish line.'

Silver in last year's world championships was all the Dutch rider needed to convince himself he could go the monument distance and win.

'Honestly, I had a lot of fun today, as much as it hurt. I’ll be back for revenge,' says American rider.

‘I'm sure that during the upcoming years I’ll come close or maybe get the victory,’ says Kopecky.

Chasing pair never gave up and ended up sprinting for the victory in late-race catch.

Troubles continued for the so-called ‘Wolfpack’ and the Belgian powerhouse hopes to save its spring classics campaign at Paris-Roubaix.

Christophe Laporte suffered an untimely crash and Tiesj Benoot was gapped in closing kilometers of De Ronde

'The level in this peloton is so high that it's impossible to make up the deficit. Apart from Kasper it'll be difficult,' says Stijn Steels.

‘Quick-Step? I haven't seen them. You probably saw more on TV,’ says Benoot.

Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen were both in the chase group, but the team didn't harness its horsepower to close gap to winning quartet.

There wasn't a Quick-Step jersey in the top-30 as pressure mounts on perennial classics favorites.

'When I saw 250 meters I didn’t want to wait because if I wait then maybe they can accelerate. I just closed my eyes and kept going,' says Eritrean.

Next up for the Groupama-FDJ rider is Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday.