Opening Weekend: Exclusive interviews with Imogen Wolff, Toms Skujiņš, Kasper Asgreen & Heinrich Haussler 🇧🇪
Another batch of exclusive interviews ahead of the cobbled Classics
Hi Subscribers,
We begin with the news that Wout van Aert will miss Omloop Nieuwsblad due to illness. The Belgian was set to start his road season this weekend, but his much-anticipated showdown with Mathieu van der Poel has been delayed.
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While it’s been a sluggish start to the year for the Visma men’s team, the women’s team hopes to find their rhythm this weekend. Despite lacking a clear favourite for Omloop Nieuwsblad, the Dutch squad enters the race with a line-up full of young talent.
Perhaps at the top of the bill is 19-year-old Imogen Wolff, who enjoyed a phenomenal start to her WorldTour racing career in 2025. According to the rider, her numbers are better than ever, and coming up, we’ll hear from Wolff, along with Kasper Asgreen from EF Education-EasyPost, Heinrich Haussler on Decathlon’s chances in Opening Weekend despite missing two leading stars, and Toms Skujiņš from Lidl-Trek on his team’s progression towards the Classics.
Tomorrow we’ll have an exclusive interview with Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney, hear from Demi Vollering about her season aspirations, and have our Opening Weekend Wildcards - and don’t forget there’s a 20% discount on all new annual subscriptions.
Daniel 🫶
P.S Over the weekend, I’ll be running post-race analysis stories.
But we begin with Imogen Wolff, who travels to Belgium on Friday from her base in Girona for her first Spring Classics race of the season at Omloop Nieuwsblad. Visma-Lease a Bike enters the race without Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, but the squad is still filled with talent, including Wolff, who must be regarded as an outside contender for Saturday’s main event.
Wolff began her season at the catchy-titled Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana earlier this month, where she supported her teammates and delivered strong performances across several stages.
“The legs are really good, and the form, touch wood, is really good, really positive. I’ve only raced once in Valencia, and it was a nice opener. The girls did really well, and we have some nice results on GC,” she told me on the phone.
Wolff was always identified as a major talent as she progressed through the junior ranks, but even she was taken aback by how swiftly she adapted to the WorldTour last season. A victory at the start of the year on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina, which was accompanied by a white jersey and fifth overall on GC, set the tone, and she was then thrown into the Spring Classics, where she achieved top 25 results in Gent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix.
“I definitely didn’t expect that, and I don’t think that the team expected it either. I found my feet a little bit quicker, and although it definitely wasn’t a perfect season, there were a lot of highlights, and my race calendar changed completely from the start of the year to what I ended up riding,” Wolff told me.
“I really want to make the next big step. It was my first proper winter of consistent training, and I’m definitely seeing better numbers than I’ve ever seen before. I’m not saying that I’m going to win a Monument or that it will be easy, but it’s only natural that you want to make a step up from the level you were at, and physically, I’ve done that. All the peloton has made that step, so we’ll see,” she added.
What’s clear from speaking to Wolff is that she’s excited about Omloop and the upcoming tests. She will skip Milan-San Remo this year and focus on the cobbles before turning her attention to the Vuelta and, if selected, another shot at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
“The Spring Classics are my favourite time of year. I’m so excited,” Wolff told me.
“When I was watching on TV, it was my favourite time of the year, and now as a rider, it’s also my favourite time. I’m really excited. I would really like to make it into the final at Omloop. As you said, I’ve not raced it before, but from watching it on TV, that final 25km or so is really where you see all the fireworks, so I’d like to be up there, competitive and racing at the front,” she added.
And the lack of a proven star rider in Visma’s roster only enhances Wolff’s chances this weekend. We’re still waiting for the team’s full line-up, but as it stands, not a single rider on the provisional list is over 23, with Wolff being the youngest. This will be a real test to see if enthusiasm and raw talent can outweigh experience, but it’s a challenge the British rider is relishing.