Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) is the British team’s number one man for Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Spanish classics star has come close to taking the race, being outsprinted by Nick Nuyens in the race for second place behind Stijn Devolder in 2008. In his 11-year career he has won the 2010 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and finished on the Paris-Roubaix podium twice, but that first cycling monument is still missing from his palmares.
“Well, results don’t always say how well you rode," Flecha told Het Nieuwsblad. "I’ve often ridden a strong race, but ended up twelfth or so.
“I never fight for a result; I ride for fun. I go to the race to have fun. Therefore, I will always have a big smile on my face after the finish; even if I finish second or third."
This February, as the defending champion in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Flecha was outsprinted at the finish by Rabobank’s Sebastian Langeveld. Despite the close run thing though, he’s not angry for missing the opportunity.
'Oh no', he said. "Whether I win or not, that does not change the person I am. I’m Flecha, and I will continue to be Flecha even if I never win a big cycling monument. Who are you if you don’t do that? Are you a better person?
“No, I really don’t think Sunday: ‘I must win.’ I'll just do my best, 110 percent."
The overwhelming favourite for Sunday’s race is defending champion Fabian Cancellara, but Flecha is concentrating on his own performance rather than worrying about those of others.
"Oh, Cancellara,” he said. “He put on a great show on Saturday, sure, but that doesn’t interest me. I really don’t focus on one rider, though. I do not think ‘I want to beat Cancellara.’
“This race is no jungle, where animals show each other to who has the biggest balls. I do not care who that is. I just try to win the Tour."