What was predicted came true. Tom Steele, director of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, told Cycling News earlier in the week that "opening weekend often gets your ass kicked," and it was that very ass that got kicked Saturday afternoon at Omloop Het Niusbrod.

The Belgian team is a perennial spring reference point, and it's in their DNA to open the cobbled classics, but as Steele's pointed out, they have a tumultuous relationship with Omloop and the accompanying Sunday Clune Brussel-Coone.

In fact, they won both races last year and two of the last three. On Saturday, there was a new exhibit in that gallery.

On a day when Florian Sénéchal was the team's top finisher in ninth place, the Frenchman and his teammates spent the day chasing facts, as they say in this part of Belgium.

"It's not the first time we've had an opening weekend ...... We have a love-hate relationship with this weekend," Steele told Cycling News in Ninove after the team debrief.

"We were the ones who had to chase. We weren't in a position to control the race. We were always a little bit behind. Sometimes that's the way the race goes. Of course, the best rider won because Wout Van Aert was outstanding.

Even before Omloop departed from sun-drenched Ghent on the symbolic opening day of the classic season, the cause of Quick Step was complicated. Tim Declercq, the tireless workhorse who usually controls the first half of the race, had already been ruled out with a heart problem, and Bert van Lerberghe had a stomach bug overnight.

On the road, Tour de Flanders champion Caspar Asgreen, freshly recovered from COVID-19, suffered multiple mechanical problems as the race began to stretch with 75 km to go. He returned to the race but suffered another puncture at Wolvenberg with 55 km to go, forcing an even longer chase.

In Berendreis, Van Aert went clear with teammates Tiesj Benoot and Tom Pidcock and the Ineos of Honatan Narvaez. The Quick Step riders did not get on the boat, but instead burned Asgreen and Yves Lampert in a furious pursuit ahead of Mule van Gerarlsbergen. Leadership fell to Seneschal and 2020 winner Zdenek Stival, who advanced past Mühl to the next selection, but were helpless as Van Aert went clear in Vosberg.

Even Seneschal, usually a fast finisher, could only manage 9th place from the kick of the 2nd place group. It was truly a day to remember.

"I know the riders aren't 100% yet," said Seneschal. 'We had a flat tire right at the start of the race. The other riders were a little too far behind.

"At Berendies, it's obvious that those guys are going to go, and then you know if you were too far back or if you didn't have enough legs. It's not a disaster, but it's a wake-up call. There's homework to be done, but it's not the first time."

Steele denied that there was anything on the team bus in the morning that suggested such a performance was a possibility.

"I'm going easy on them; not a single rider failed to give 100%. They did the best they could with the legs they had. They have to be there every race, but that doesn't mean that you have to be there every race."

Indeed, the team's "team" was not the only one to be there.

In fact, they are well aware of the situation and have turned things around over the years. Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico will be the barrier before the core of the spring campaign, when the so-called "Wolfpack" will be evaluated more strictly. Still, there is a chance for immediate snowballing, with Fabio Jacobsen joining the Coonu Brussels Coonu fray on Sunday.

As for what is needed tonight: "Patience, and good wine."