The Leopard Trek team has gone very close to Classics victory with Fabian Cancellara taking second, second and third in Milan San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. A big win is missing, but Leopard-Trek general manager Brian Nygaard feels satisfied with how the team has performed until now.
“Assessing the season so far, I am happy with what we have got. I think with a little bit more luck, we would have been sitting here before Liege with a Classic win or two,” he told VeloNation in a video interview. Nygaard was referring to Cancellara’s near-misses, and also to the crash which took he and Frank Schleck out of contention for the Amstel Gold race.
“But there is still one to go. Overall, I am very happy with how the season is coming along. We started out by saying that we wanted to be humble, but be a very serious part of it, and I think so far that is what we have done.”
Of course the campaign will become a successful one if one of the team’s riders can win today. While Philippe Gilbert is the rider in the best form, Nygaard believes that the all round versatility of the team plus the strength of the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank could make a difference when the chips are down, the pace is high and the attacks are firing.
“I think we need to profit that man by man, we have probably the strongest team,” he explained. “Making the race hard, potentially isolating some of the other favourites is the way to go. Having more than one card in the final…all the other Classics have shown that it is a numbers game, and hopefully that will be to our advantage...”