Just under a year ago, Kasper Asgreen told himself that he was running the cobbled classics for the best cobbled classics team in the world. Patrick Lefebvre had moved to the team mid-season to fill an injury-plagued hole in the team.

The Dane, who had an impressive victory in the opening weekend of the Classic at the Cune Brussel Cune, looks to be one of Lefebvre's spring mainstays.

"This is very important. Ever since I became a professional, I have been trying to become a good rider in the classics. I took some important steps last year, and the next step is to win one of the big classics, and that's what I did this opening weekend," Asgreen said at the victory press conference in Kuhne.

The 25-year-old is not hanging around. Last year he lobbied to join the Quick Step team for the biggest race of the spring, the Tour de Flanders, and at the beginning of the year he might have been told to "dream on," but by the time he had put in an impressive string of domestique performances from E3 to Dwars, his case could not be ignored There was no way.

In the 2019 ronde, Asgreen seized the opportunity with both hands and led the team to a major breakthrough. Opening the tap from distance, mainly for the benefit of the team leaders, Asgreen endured longer than anyone expected and made it to the podium in Oudenaarde.

"I'm a little more protected than last year. Last year I was pulling from the beginning and was always one of the first riders to be used.

"Now I've proven that I can be there and save a little more energy early in the race.

Nevertheless, Asgreen emphasized that it was not only Flanders that elevated his status, and he has a stage win and third place overall at the Tour of California, a Danish Time Trial win, a stage win at the Tour of Deutschland, a Tour de Suisse Time He mentioned his performances for the rest of the season, including a top-five finish in the Trial.

"Overall, I think last year I was more consistent in my form and results. That changed my position in the team a lot. I don't think it would have made much difference if I had only cut out the second place in the Tour of Flanders and didn't make the rest of the year in results."

Asgreen is helping to fill the void left by Philippe Gilbert, but he does not see the five-time Monument winner's move to Lotto Soudal as an opportunity.

"Gilbert's departure has made it more difficult," Asgreen asserted.

Asgreen will head to the main race at the Cobblestone Classic in late March.

Yves Lampaert, who finished second in Saturday's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, will be at the top of the pecking order, as will Zdenek Stybar and Bob Jungels, who won the opening weekend last year. In addition, Julien Alaphilippe will make his Flemish debut.

"I don't think [our position in the team] will change much. We had a plan and I was already one of the protected riders who had to jump."

"The strength of the team is that we have some riders who can do this. That doesn't change whether we win or lose. If you have the legs, you are protected, if not, you have to help. If I go down in the middle of a classic, they will help me instead. That's the way it is."

Asgreen has taken many steps in a very short time. To illustrate how fast the climb has been up to this point, Asgreen had begun thinking about his next race before leaving the press room in Kuhne.

"The next step is to do it again. 'To be consistent in every race, to be at the top, that's the next step.'