Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was absent at E3 Harelbecke because of illness, bounced back on Sunday with na 18th place in Gent-Wevelgem. The Dimension Data rider explained to Cyclingnews that this performance gives him some confidence for the next cobbled classics.

"It’s not super great but still I was up in the front so it was quite good. It was a big fight in the crosswinds all day, but I managed to be up in the front, so I’m happy with that. I wasn’t really on the front in the final, but it was quite ok", the Norwegian told. "I was sick last week but today I am ok. It was a pretty good effort from the team as well. They got me to the front and that was great, but I didn’t manage to do a really good final but still it was good."

He was unable  follow Peter Sagan when he made his move on the Kemmelberg. "We tried to come back but it was a big group behind, and they were going really fast in front. It was too hard. We lost both Jay [Thomson] and Reinardt [Janse Van Rensburg] with flat tyres at the same time that was really bad luck. If they didn’t have that then maybe we could have had more guys in the front so Tyler didn’t have to do that much but it’s hard to say. I’m happy with what the guys did. With bad luck, you can’t do much, but that’s life."