"Ultimately, we can conclude that Jumbo Visma is back to the team of a few years ago." These were the words of Patrick Lefebvre. On the opening weekend, his Soudal-Quick Step team was soundly defeated by their Dutch rivals, and the Belgian team's efforts culminated in sixth and ninth place finishes.

The veteran team boss returned to Belgium from the Tour de Rwanda to take part in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

Since then, he has overseen 69 victories on the cobbles and in the Ardennes Classics, but his 70th did not come, and Lefebvre was not happy to witness his first barren opening weekend since 2018.

"I didn't come back from Rwanda for this," he told Het Nieuwsblad (opens in new tab) outside the team bus in Cournet on Sunday, joining other Belgian media. 'At the end of the day, Jambo Visma is a team like we were a few years ago. They were dominant and we saw right through them."

"We got a little overwhelmed by the yellows. But we have players like Benoot who can run. If Van Hooydonk gets into the break, we will run with him and the four of us."

"But it won't happen. I get the impression that we want to race defensively; we don't want to corner and be strong. We are not used to that sort of thing."

Soudal-QuickStep had some bad luck throughout the weekend. Former Flanders champion Caspar Asgreen was sidelined by illness, Tim Declercq crashed in the Omloop, French champion Florian Senechal crashed in the same race, and Yves Lampert was involved in a major spill in the Couine.

Ballerini managed to recover to sixth place in the Omloop, but there was still a chance for an upset. Last year, Fabio Jacobsen was able to sprint for the win in the Kuhne.

But it was not to be, and the team was once again in the hunt, with Jacobsen's 9th place being the best finish on Sunday afternoon.

In any case, Lefebvre largely dismissed the notion that luck was responsible for their unfortunate weekend, saying instead that much of it could have been avoided if the team had been at the traditional cobbled classic location at the head of the peloton.

"'Unlucky' Ballerini was in front when he got away on the triou, but he dropped back, as did Florian Senechal," Lefebvre said. Certainly Lampaert was behind the crash, but that was not what happened at the front, let's be clear."

"That's the difference. Then I wouldn't have been behind the crash, because in E3 Harelbæk, I had a chance to get away because the rest of the field had fallen behind me. Now we are all running apart."

"It's the same riders as two years ago. 'Ballerini won the Omloop and Lampert is still Lampert. But we have shifted the emphasis a little bit within the team. There are a few players whose contracts are expiring. If they want to extend their contracts, I will be on the other side of the table."

Moving away from lamentations and warnings about contracts, Lefebvre praised the "yellow" team for winning both races.

"Our players are out training at altitude, too," he said.

"We deliberately bought high altitude tents so we could sleep in calpe." Jumbo-Visma is an impressive but also very strong team. We know that,

"However, we shouldn't panic now. The season has only just begun and with Lemko winning the UAE Tour overall, we already have our 12th win. I don't feel angry. The season is still long."