Cannondale-Garmin’s young team performed with courage, heart and spirit well beyond their age and experience at the 2015 Tour of Flanders.

Coming in to today’s monument the green argyle squad had netted a podium at Dwars door Vlaanderen (3rd, Dylan van Baarle) and a top-10 at E3 Harelbeke (8th, Jack Bauer). Both van Baarle – racing with injuries suffered at Harelbeke – and Bauer flew the argyle flag today, with Bauer making the pre-selection and young van Baarle staying in contact with the first big chase group all the way to the finish line in Oudenaarde. Making it to the start line was victory in itself for Sebastian Langeveld, who crashed heavily twice last week. The three first-time starters – Lasse Hansen, Ruben Zepuntke and Kristoffer Skjerping – all played a critical role in the success of their teammates.

"For the last few races, our goals have been around teamwork and loyalty. Practicing these values have been on the top of our list. The team has been very good in these areas – and you can see that with our results. We were third in our first race. In the next race we got eighth," sports director Andreas Klier said.

"Today was the biggest test yet: 260km with very young riders. My hope was that they could come to kilometer 170 but the team was able to do their work up until 193km and 210km. I was very happy with the performance of our riders playing a support role and their loyalty to the team’s protected riders, Sebastian and Jack.

"Sebastian was the team leader, but with two crashes recently, we knew we couldn’t expect 100% from his body. He did his best, but naturally he wasn’t at his best.

"Jack was our other option. He was up there on the Taaienberg (220km) where the pre-selection happened. That was our goal for him today. He looked really good and was at the front until he ran out of legs.

"Dylan is very young and 260km is a lot for his age, but he did a good race and showed his strength.

"I have to be happy. You can’t judge us on numbers today. Of course, we always want to do better, and we are very motivated to do better but overall, I’m extremely happy with the performance of the young kids and that Jack was there when the pre-selection happened."
 

"My goal was to make it further in the race today than I did last year and to help the team get the best result we could. I surprised myself a little bit. I thought I might be dropped at the Koppenberg before the race really started, but I was still there after it," van Baarle said.

"Today shows me that I’ve developed myself better than I expected, and that’s a really good thing. I’m stronger than last year, and I know the course a bit better. I think that helps a lot.

"The team did a really great job, and I think maybe we deserve a bit more for our efforts. Next week is a new race and hopefully we do the same sort of race as a team with a better result."

"Full credit to the team for how they rode today and how they supported myself, Sebastian and Dylan. We had a great show of teamwork early on the race." Bauer said.

"The young kids on the team were exceptional – Ruben, Kristoffer and Lasse. That’s three really young riders lining up for the first time at Tour of Flanders, which is a big deal. It’s one of the biggest one-day races in the sport, and they stepped up to the plate. They supported us really well, and they rode above their age and their experience. That’s huge for the team moving forward, and it shows the team’s spirit and the team’s commitment to development.

"We knew that the decisive split would happen on the Taaienberg, and it was my job to be there. And I was there. As it played out, I was on the front, cresting the Taaienberg…until my legs just went out completely.

"Flanders is such a brutal race. The length of it. The intensity of it. The number of climbs. The cobblestones. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you just don’t.

"There are times in a race where you feel 100 percent – and you can go from 100 to zero in the blink of an eye. That’s what happened to me today.

"I did what I could to eat, drink, recover and chase wheels, but I didn’t really make it back into the thick of the action after that. I hoped for a lot more today and I personally feel that I had more to give than I showed, but I take that disappointment I feel and turn it into motivation for the next race.

"As you saw today, we’ve got Sebastian and Dylan both coming back from really nasty crashes. They both showed they’re on the path to recovery and that their motivation is high and their health is good. Hopefully with another week of recovery in the bag, we can do something next Sunday at Paris-Roubaix."