While the winner of this year's Tour de Flanders may have been predictable, runner-up Luca Mozzato (Arkea B&B Hotels), by his own admission, was not expecting a dramatically successful race himself. This is more than I expected," Mozzato said in a team statement. "If you had told me this morning that I would be in the top 20, I would have been happy, and if you had told me I would be in the top 10, I would have signed up immediately. But a podium would have been ......."

The 26-year-old headed to Oudenaar with a group of eight others who shook off the last-minute break of Dylan Tiuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education). Michael Matthews (Jayco Alura), who was later relegated to 11th place, sprinted away, but Mozzato jumped out from behind him to finish in second place.

"In my mind, the goal was to get through as many of the climbs as possible in the first group as smoothly as possible," said Mazzato. "I was in pretty good shape for the last 30-40 kilometers. It was a race where everyone finished "cooked."

Mozzato was in strong form for his second Monument of the season. He started with an impressive sprint victory at the Breden Koksijde Classic in March and then ran inside or near the top 20, including a 10th place finish at the Brugge des Pannes Classic. Still, finishing second in one of the biggest races on the calendar was a leap beyond the most optimistic expectations of the riders and the WorldTour team.

"We need to immortalize this moment! The first podium in the Monument is worth it," said an excited Emmanuelle Hubert, General Manager of Arcare B&B Hotels. The Tour de Flanders is one of the most beautiful classics in the world. For Luca, second place is a very impressive result."

"He is a brave man, a rider who 'does' what he has to do. He knows how to exploit everything to the millimeter. More generally, this performance shows that the Arkea B&B Hotels team is capable of competing at the highest level"

.

This is also a performance that means that Mozzato, the rider that Arkea pulled out of the collapsed B&B Hotels team at the end of 2022, will be considered in a whole new light. This was not only a podium finish at Monument, but also a grueling race, as three-time winner Van der Pol described it as "the hardest race I have ever run."

"I believe in it, and I think it still takes time to realize it," Mozzato said of the podium in an article for La Gazzetta dello Sport. I think it's the best performance I've ever had."

Get unlimited access to all coverage of the Spring Classics, including reports, breaking news, and analysis of Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, and more. More info.