{"id":584556,"date":"2026-04-04T07:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T07:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584556\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T07:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T07:42:08","slug":"can-2024-tour-of-flanders-revelation-surprise-again-when-the-champions-are-there-the-race-will-be-on-their-shoulders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584556\/","title":{"rendered":"Can 2024 Tour of Flanders revelation surprise again? \u2018When the champions are there, the race will be on their shoulders\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luca Mozzato was one of the biggest surprises of the 2024 Tour of Flanders<\/a>. Then still riding for Ark\u00e9a, the Italian sprinted to second place behind Mathieu van der Poel. This winter, the 28-year-old moved to Tudor, where he has made a bright start. Speaking to In de Leiderstrui ahead of Flanders\u2019 Finest, he explained how he hopes to spring another surprise there.<\/p>\n

Mozzato had enjoyed some strong years at Ark\u00e9a-B&B Hotels. Riding for the French team, the Arzignano native took his first professional victory in August 2023, when he proved fastest in a stage of the Tour du Limousin. Later that same year, he also added Binche-Chimay-Binche to his palmar\u00e8s.<\/p>\n

He carried that good form into 2024, when Mozzato rode an extensive spring campaign. He won the Bredene Koksijde Classic, but his most impressive result was still to come after that. In the Tour of Flanders, the Italian emerged as the race\u2019s big surprise by sprinting to second place behind Van der Poel. The classics world had truly been introduced to Luca Mozzato.<\/p>\n

The results dipped somewhat in 2025, however, and that may also have played a part in his decision to look elsewhere. He was given an opportunity at Tudor, and after the first few months it already appeared to be an excellent move. \u201cI feel very good within the team. I immediately felt welcome from all the riders and the entire staff. So far, it has definitely been a very good choice,\u201d he told us recently.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

Mozzato looks ahead: \u2018If an opportunity presents itself, we have to be ready to take it\u2019<\/p>\n

At the Swiss team, the focus is once again firmly on the spring. \u201cI really worked for this period,\u201d Mozzato said. With a second place in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and then seventh in Bredene, he had already gone close. \u201cSo far I\u2019ve already had some pretty good results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing really crazy good yet, but we have started on the right foot. We hope to continue that until the end of the spring,\u201d he said before the start of the Tour of Bruges. In that Belgian classic he finished fifth, after which he added another strong seventh place in In Flanders Fields.<\/p>\n

Those good results <\/a>are precisely the approach with which Mozzato started his spring campaign. \u201cOf course, we do our best every day and we always want the best result. So it is not about simply starting and getting the bike to the finish. We try to race near the front and to be part of the race,\u201d he said of his team, which has had to deal with the absence <\/a>of classics leader Stefan K\u00fcng.<\/p>\n

That naturally leaves the question: what is still possible in a race such as the Tour of Flanders, where major names like Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Poga\u010dar and Wout van Aert will be on the start line? \u201cIt is clear to everyone that we are not the favourites. When the champions are there, the race will be on their shoulders. We have to look for openings, and if an opportunity presents itself, then we have to be ready to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luca Mozzato was one of the biggest surprises of the 2024 Tour of Flanders. Then still riding for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85,167262,54302],"class_list":["post-584556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-tour-of-flanders","tag-tudor-pro-cycling-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}