Following a good performance in the Tour of Flanders, an air of confidence surrounds the Blanco Pro Cycling Team leading up to Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. Whilst Lars Boom and Sep Vanmarcke are both fully-fledged leaders, Sports Director Jan Boven knows that his team also has strength across the entire line-up.

“During Flanders, we took a big step. We topped up both our morale and self-confidence. Lars and Sep are the leaders but we can also expect certain things from Maarten Wynants and Maarten Tjallingii,” said Boven.

Boom comes out of the Tour of Flanders in good shape. The Dutchman hopes for inclement weather in Paris-Roubaix. “I am hoping for rain, then I am fine.” said the previous Dutch cyclocross champion. “At the finish, if Fabian Cancellara or anyone else makes a break for it, I hope to be able to chase and even make an attack of my own.”

Maarten Tjallingii has geared his season around the Hell of the North and is counting on a strong team performance in France. He said, “We will have a robust line-up at the start. I expect a strong result based on what we did in the Tour of Flanders. I hope it’s a tough race. As far as I am concerned, other teams can do the grunt work and we’ll be happy to take advantage. At any rate, I am feeling very much up to it.”

Blanco line-up for Paris-Roubaix:

Lars Boom, Rick Flens, Jos van Emden, Maarten Tjallingii, Sep Vanmarcke, Maarten Wynants, Robert Wagner and Jetse Bol.