Etixx-Quick Step have shown that despite the name change this offseason, they are still going to be the team to beat in the Classics, after leading Niki Terpstra to a second consecutive GC win at the tour of Qatar, the team’s eighth win in 14 editions overall. And once more, they have all the other team running scared.

“That’s always the team that everyone looks at,” Sky sports director Servais Knaven told VeloNews.

“They are specialists in races like the Tour of Qatar and in the classics. Every other team has two or three riders who can do the same, but they have probably eight.”

“It’s no secret that they are the strongest team in these races, both in Qatar and in the classics,” Sky’s Luke Rowe said. “They are the guys to watch.”

Etixx has a formidable Classics squad, able to call on the likes of Monument winners Terpstra and Tom Boonen, great support riders like Zdenek Stybar, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Stijn Vandenbergh, Niko Maes, Iljo Keisse, Matteo Trentin and Yves Lampaert.

Etixx are so good at what they do that many people beliveriding the cobbles and echelons and bad weather that comes with the classics is in their DNA.

“It’s in their blood, their roots, the history and everything,” Tinkoff-Saxo manager Bjarne Riis said.

“I’ve been racing in Belgium, and when you race there you see it. Cycling’s part of the culture, they are crazy there for it. The Tour of Flanders and these races. They live for that.”

Etixx-Quicl Step DS Wilfried Peeters has led many riders in the team to Classics success, most recently Boonen in 2012 and Terpstra last year. He puts the success down to the team basing their while season around the month long classics campaign, even if they have GC riders like Rigoberto Uran, sprinters like Mark Cavendish and Ardennes riders like Michal Kwiatkowski, who can win in other big races, but to Etixx-Quick Step, they value those races but nothing compares to the Cobbles.

“Sky can do it also, but maybe they have other goals like the Tour de France,” Etixx sports director Wilfried Pieters said. “You can try to have goals in the classics and the Tour, but it’s difficult. We try, but it’s difficult."

“For example, in the Tour, team Movistar has men who can support on the climbs, but in the spring classics, they don’t have that."

“It’s the type of riders we have, Nico Maes, Tom Boonen, Niki Terpstra. … Strong guys with big legs who like riding in races with echelons."

“We have more riders who can make results in these type of races. When one guy is strong, and the other guys are there marking behind, you have a team.”