Looking across the finish line in Ghent-Wevelgem, one would be forgiven for thinking that Megan Yastrab had won the race. She looked into the eyes of her DSM teammate Pfeiffer Georgi.

"My God," she exclaimed, raising her hands to her head twice.

Marlen Reuser had long ago scored a solo win, but Just Love had just won the sprint for second place. He caught up to the chase group in the last 10km and showed the strongest sprint, despite being swallowed up by a large group in the last kilometer.

Nevertheless, it was the longer journey that made this feel like a victory. While Just Love earned a world title and the spotlight that comes with it at the end of a stormy first junior campaign in 2019, this American rider is just finding his feet at the pro level. Despite the obvious caveat of a global pandemic, three and a half years still feels like a long time in pro cycling these days.

"A lot of thoughts start to creep in," Yastrab told Cycling News in Wevelgem. Was I only good enough for the junior category or was I not good enough for the elite ......" And.

"I was often compared to my junior years, but I lost my second junior year. I never raced on the track or in the rainbow bands, I got COVID in 2020 and didn't race a single road race all year, and in 2021 I didn't race until August, so basically I was away from the peloton for a year and a half.

After a brief first pro season with DSM, Just Love finally experienced a full campaign in 2022, which included appearances in Paris-Roubaix Fam and the Giro Donne. He made the podium in the opening stages of the Melsem Classic and the Tour of Scandinavia.

"I got a small hint and started thinking, 'No, I belong here,'" said Just Love, now 21.

"It takes time to grow, and the team and everyone is supportive. You have to keep that mentality moving forward and continually grow, and it will come together at some point."

If it started to come together last year, Justlove's professional career now appears to be taking off. Her podium in Ghent-Wevelgem came four days after an impressive run in Bruges-De Panneh.

"De Panne was a big confidence booster. De Panne gave me great confidence. I don't think he missed an echelon, and he actually forced some echelons.

"Even in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, I had a really good race there, even though it didn't show in the results. And here, too, I was confident that if I kept fighting I could make it to the end."

Those who survived the muddy race in Ghent-Wevelgem to the end could say they had the stomach for a classic.

"This means a lot. It's a major race in the Classics and it's only the second year I've run the Classics in the elite class, so it means a lot," she said.

"Last year we were off the time limit," she said. But the team had a lot of confidence in me and Pfeiffer to be the leaders." But the team believed that me and Pfeiffer could be leaders.

Justlove praised Georgi and the entire DSM team for enduring two crashes and a bike swap this season.

"Everyone is willing to die for the other riders. Everyone gets along well and gives 100% in every race," she said. "We have a lot on the cards and we will go in with an open mind, but if someone is the team leader, we will all give our all for that leader."

Justlove's ambitions are naturally starting to look up as he sets his sights on his debut Tour de Flanders on Sunday and his second Paris-Roubaix a week later. Winning is important to the team, and it is also important to Jastrab himself.

"I personally consider today's second place a victory."