Even though Omega Pharma-Quick Step currently occupies the pole position in the UCI WorldTour rankings and certainly proved their strength in numbers as the best classics team in the Ronde van Vlaanderen last Sunday, their hunger could not be satisfied. Belgian squad leaders were unable to finish off a splendid work of team-mates on the Flemish hilly route and are more than aware now, what the team manager – Partick Lefevere – expects from them in the coming Paris-Roubaix.

“The best classics team in the world should have also won a monument. I’m not interested in podium places,” Lefevere told nieuwsblad.be.

The Omega Pharma-Quick Step manager also responded to a wave of criticism referring to team tactics, and more particularly to Stijn Vandenbergh’s refusal to cooperate with Greg Van Avermaet and gain more advantage after the BMC rider attacked almost 40 kilometers from the finish line. Instead, the huge Oudenaarde-born rider rode on Van Avermaet’s wheel before the duo was joined by Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin), and American team’s captain didn’t hide his disappointment with Vandenbergh’s behaviour.

“Sorry Greg, but I’m not interested in the second place,” Lefevere replied.

Vandenbergh has been sent up the road as a part of Omega Pharma-Quick Step tactics to cover all dangerous moves, but certainly wasn’t the right man to decide the Ronde van Vlaanderen finale with the fastest or strongest riders in likes of Van Aermaet, Vanmarcke or Cancellara. Thus, the 29-year old Belgian was forced to play a waiting game, hoping he would be joined by one of his captains.

“I even received a call from the BMC manager Jim Ochowicz during the race,” Lefevere reveals, “He asked me why Stijn wasn’t cooperating with Greg. I gave the same answer: Sorry Jim, we’re riding for a victory.”

Lefevere remains optimistic, but also very demanding for his team ahead of the second cobbled monument – the Paris-Roubaix in the coming Sunday.

“I have seen a strong team in De Ronde. It’s not going to fade away in one week. With this one more [race] in his legs, on the Paris-Roubaix course Tom should find the form he lacked last Sunday.”

“He’ll be ready. Tom is definitely a man we can rely on. Only three riders have won eight out of last ten editions of the Ronde: Boonen, Cancellara and Devolder. Do not get me wrong, but Terpstra and Stybar have yet to prove that they can reach this level.”

Once again the Omega Pharma-Quick Step manager emphasized that number one spot occupied by his team in WorldTour rankings do not satisfy his ambitions.

“The best classics team in the world should have won a monument. We have the most wins out of the pack, but I want a big fish,” Lefevere concluded.