Zdenek Stybar flew into his Tour of Flanders press conference on Friday on a helicopter, showing that he is treated like a favourite. And so he should be he has great bike handling skills, a strong climb and a fast sprint, all the assets required to do well in the Tour of Flanders.

This says a lot about Stybar, considering that he is ranked as a favourite despite this only being his second Classics campaign since joining Omega Pharma-Quick Step from cyclocross. 

“I’m not nervous at all. I’m really looking forward to it, I’m excited about the race. Let’s go and race.”

“I would love for it, but it’s difficult to say. I hope that we will do it as a team. For the moment, I think that the shape is good and it will not disappear in a week. I think that if I am good on Sunday then I will also be good a week later. I have to wait and see.”

Along with Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra, he is one of OPQS main men for the race and he has aspirations to win that match all of the expectations.

“It’s really amazing the love they have for this race and how much respect they have for this race. So many people are watching just one race in the year and that’s de Ronde. I think it is one of the most beautiful races that a rider can wish to win."

“Last year in Roubaix, I made a good result. I still think that Flanders suits me more than Paris-Roubaix, but still I need the confirmation. Now I have two weekends to see which race suits me the best.”

He hopes to use his World Champion pedigree cylocross skills to his advantage in the next week.

“I think I have a little advantage over the cobbles. Maybe I have even more advantage if it rains, but there are so many experienced riders that they can use their power somewhere else than I do,” he explains. “There is nothing where I can take the profit of my technical skills on the bike.”

As he has stated, Flanders is more suited to him than Roubaix as he is not as strong a time trialist as Bradley Wiggins is.

“I can save the energy on the turns and on the cobblestones but you don’t have the possibilities because you are still in the peloton. I think that it is better to have the power from the track then to come from cyclo-cross.”

So tomorrow may be his best chance at fulfilling all of those expectations.