Tadej Pogacar said on Thursday he cannot wait for this weekend's one-day Tour of Flanders race and is targeting a repeat of his 2023 win while hoping to avoid a sprint finish against champion Mathieu van der Poel.
In this epic 270km struggle through lush Flemish plains with 18 cobbled sections and 17 hills watched by a massive crowd of 750 000 fans in Belgium.
Current Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and world champion Pogacar can add another string to his bow if he wins the classic considered by purists as 'the real world championship'.
But he will have to beat Van der Poel, who trounced him in the final sprint in the last big race they met in March 22's Milan-San Remo.
"We saw it at Milan-San Remo, Mathieu is one of the best sprinters in the peloton," said the effervescent 26-year-old.
"Flanders is a very different race. But if there's a sprint, I'll do my best.
"At Flanders if I feel good, I'll have more chances to avoid such a finish. It will be tiring, very tactical. Maybe Mathieu will be more tired than me after six hours," the Slovenian said.
Pogacar said he would make the going as hard as possible and said his weakness might be that riders from the Flanders region would have an advantage.
"With the crowd creating a unique atmosphere, it's never difficult to push the pedals," Pogacar said.
"It gives you a boost of adrenaline," the three-time Tour de France winner said of the expected massive crowd.
Pogacar warned there was no way he was ruling out Wout van Aert, who is reeling from a tactical error that blew his chances of the Around Flanders race Wednesday.
"Wout seems pretty good to me. He's on the pace," Pogacar said.
"I didn't see the race but it seems they (Visma) made a mistake by being over confident.
"He'll be there on Sunday," he added.