Belgium's Quick-Step Alphavinir had more to digest than most rival teams in Saturday's Omloop Het Niusbrod post-mortem, with Florian Seneschal's ninth-place finish the best result for the powerful team.

Team boss Patrick Lefebvre called the first day of the opening weekend "something to be quickly forgotten," claiming that 50 km from the finish he "saw the rain coming." The disappointment at Omloop is nothing new for Lefebvre or his team.

Sunday's Coulée Brussel-Coulée gives Lefebvre a chance to get something out of the opening round of the cobbled classic, even if he says it is not a "revenge" race. 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021 finished in a group sprint. It would be an additional weapon for this race, which has [With Seneschal, Zdenek Stival, Yves Lampère, and Kasper Asgreen, Quick Step has five potential leaders. Ahead of the weekend, the 25-year-old Dutch rider said he is the team's plan, if not necessarily Plan A

. 'I don't know which letter, but there are more letters on the team. The year Kasper went (2020: the second consecutive solo success for Quick-Step), we knew from the back that we just had to stay calm and be ready if we needed to sprint. This year is no different

"You never know who on the team is going to be in good shape. If one of them goes away or goes to the front, they will win and I will be at the back of the pack. If it comes down to a sprint race, I will benefit from having a strong team supporting me."

In 2022, Jacobsen will have four stage wins and both points titles at the Vuelta a Valenciana and the Volta ao Algarve.

With two wins in Scheldepri, Jacobsen has proven that even if sprinters' chances are slim during the classic season, they can still win later in the spring. In Jacobsen's assessment, he has four great chances this spring.

"As Patrick said, all the races we did were preparation for the races to come. As a sprinter, I don't think he'll have much of a chance in the spring, but his first big chance is the Cune." Then it would be the Paris-Nice, De Panne and Scheldeprijs sprints.

"Then, if we are really in good shape, we can go over the Kemmelberg in Ghent-Wevelgem. If you think about Milan-San Remo, that would be four one-day races.

"So what Patrick said is true. But it is better to have already won a couple of races to know what winning is like, what racing is like, what suffering is like. So, as he says, I'm ready for the "appetizer" (of the main course)."

If Sunday's 195km race is a sprint finish, Jacobsen will face Caleb Yuan, Sonny Colbrelli, Peter Sagan, Tim Mellier, Alexander Kristoff, Brian Kokar, and Matteo Trentin.

He has already won the latter four in Valencia and Algarve, and on his current form, it would be hard to bet against that happening again. In addition to the possibility of a sprint finish in Coulée, Jacobsen is looking forward to Paris-Nice, where he will have to contend with fellow young sprint talent Yasper Philipsen and his compatriot, who caused his career-threatening crash at the Tour de Pollogne two seasons ago. He will be up against Dylan Groenewegen.

"Of course I always want to perform in those races, and I want to win [Groenewegen], but it's nothing special. I just want to race."

"Actually, I'm much more excited about the sprint competition with Philipsen. We are the young 'new generation' and we are chipping away at the pedestals of the older, more experienced riders."

"Philipsen has won two races, and so has Cavendish, but he's on the same team, so I won't be having a sprint race with him. 'As a sprinter, of course I watch every race. That's why I mentioned his name," he joked.

"It's easy to look at the winners and compare yourself to them as an athlete," he said. I saw all the sprinters going to Tirreno - Adriatico and Paris - Nice together. He's going to be there, so I'm looking forward to it."