When Tom Pidcock was asked directly at a pre-Tour de Flanders press conference if he was willing to name who he thought would win on Sunday, he was, to put it mildly, nonchalant.

"Who will win" I don't know.

The press conference ended with appreciative laughter from the reporters and a final brief comment that fell on deaf ears.

Perhaps the only real conclusion possible about Flanders at this point is that making predictions is a thankless job in cycling. Pidcock, who has been out of the race with a concussion and finished 11th in Dwars door Hlaanderen, has said little about the possibility of being "there" on Sunday.

But in any case, Pidcock, the leader of the Ineos Grenadiers, still seems upbeat about his chances. He said, "I just missed the top end, and the first race after being a little bit away is always a struggle."

"I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it to the top end," he said.

"I don't think it was ideal, because the plan for the Douard wasn't what we had planned, but it wasn't bad.

On Wednesday, his coach, Kurt Bogaerts, said that his goal for Pidcock's Dwars door Vlaanderen was not so much a specific result, but to get back used to the peculiarities of the Flanders-Ardennes race.

But whatever happens on Wednesday, Pidcock agreed on Friday that to achieve a result in the biggest race of the Flanders Classic, he would need to refer to the three key men of the E3 Saxo Classic rather than to himself alone.

"They have all shown that they are in great shape, and in E3 they decided the race. 'But I'd like to run with them in the final. It's not complicated: either you can keep up or you can't, so I hope it's the former."

Pidcock cautioned against, but did not completely reject, the idea of himself "making the race" in front of Mathieu Van Der Pol, Wout Van Art, and Tadej Pogachar: "But Pidcock called for caution.

Pidcock refuted the notion that he had lost something big after missing Milan-San Remo due to concussion.

However, he also argued that his size difference might put him at a more decisive disadvantage in certain situations against players like Van der Pol and Van Aert. On paper, however, Sunday was not necessarily such a situation.

"I am a smaller, lighter rider, with less power. But at the end of the race, after 250 km, I don't have much real explosive power. So I have to get through that part of the race."

Bogaerts was also quietly confident that Pidcock could join the "big three" in the fight to the death on Sunday: "If he is well prepared, he can go in with the confidence he always has in the big events.

"He has proven in the past that he can beat these players in the real thing. As long as everyone is at the top level, no one stands out." Tom can go into Sunday's race with a healthy amount of confidence to fight them in the final."

Turning to other rivals, Pidcock cited EF Education Easypost and Movistar, who occupied two of the top three places in the Dwar door Hlaanderen, as potential threats. At the other end, Sürdal Quickstep was not running as well as usual, but there was still a chance to turn things around.

"We have to pay the most attention to these three, but both Movistar and EF are doing very well in these classics. Flanders is a completely different race, but I would say they are performing beyond expectations."

"Quick Step won't be at the top as they usually are, but they will still run as if they want to take the lead. Julien Alaphilippe may not be where I expected him to be at this time of year, but from what I saw on Twitter, he took two hours to get back after Dwars Door.

"Then again, I also saw on Twitter that he was bringing Lemko (Even Paul), so who knows?" he concluded with a laugh.

If talk of a classical savior "Dial a Lemko" was dismissed as quickly as it surfaced, the uncertainty about questions like Alpahiripe's tone is likely to remain until the Flanders finale reveals everyone's true hand.

And Pidcock, if not one of the pre-race "big three," seems certain to have at least a couple of trump cards when it comes to the final hand.