A daring performance during the Paris-Nice queen stage earned Tim Wellens tenth spot in the general classification of the event and a privilege of lining up as one of four Lotto-Soudal leaders at the Milano-Sanremo next Sunday. The talented Belgian admitted to feel curious and slightly nervous ahead of his debut in la Primavera, as he has never raced at a distance longer than 260 kilometers.

Wellens believes that Lotto-Soudal will have a strength in numbers in the upcoming Milano-Sanremo with him lining up as a team leader along with three more experienced team-mates Jürgen Roelandts, André Greipel and Tony Gallopin. All the same, the 23-year old Belgian acknowledges that a one-day race held on a distance over 300 kilometers and characterized by adverse weather conditions is a highly unpredictable affair and thus there is no way to predict what their situation would be before hitting the Poggio.

„It's a difficult race,” Wellens told Sporza. „It's always challenging with nervousness and crashes playing an important role.”

„It's easier to be competitive as a team [in such race], and we will have enough cards to play with. On paper, we will enter the race with four leaders, but it may as well happen that only one of us reaches the Poggio.”

Despite admitting to feel slightly nervous before debuting in season's first monument, Wellens believes in his chances of making it to the event's decisive climb and promises to put his aggressive attitude on show again in case he acomplishes that goal.

„That distance [300 kilometers] scares me a bit. The longest race I've ever contested was 260 kilometers long, and now it's going to be 40 kilometers more. It's one more hour on a bike. I am curious,” the 23-year old Dutchman concluded.