Edvald Boasson Hagen has had a strong start to the season with a lot of victories. These performances give him confidence for the spring classics. The former Gent-Wevelgem winner wants to shine in the last cobbled classic of this season.

"The pressure happens every year. But I make my own pressure. I try to do my best all the time", he told Cyclingnews. He had to miss E3 Harelbeck because of illness but he confirmed he is in good shape before the French classic. "I was pretty good at Flanders; I didn’t get a good result but I was feeling quite OK. I think I’m better now, though. I felt I was doing really well at the start of the season, and also the end of last year, so I feel I’m continuing that, and I think there’s more to come."

Dimension Data's trainer Rolf Aldag is still confident in his rider. "He’s treated like he already won three times Flanders and three times Roubaix. People mark him, they think, 'we cannot give him 20 seconds – we might not get him back. We don’t want to bring him to the sprint – he’s fast. That’s his problem; he never has the element of surprise. He can never surprise people because his competitors will always see him as a big threat."

"That’s always been his problem; he’s always judged on his talent, not necessarily on his results. You have to remember he bravely tried to win Milan-San Remo, attacking instead of waiting for the sprint and ending up wherever," Aldag added. "He has clearly showed his potential and he deserves our full support. It’s a super unpredictable race and that’s what we have to look into – who else can go into groups, what would be a good situation for us to get into the final – who could do it."