Is Luke Lamperti a future Classics star? Here’s where he starts to find out

There’s a great deal of excitement surrounding the young US talent Luke Lamperti, but no one – not even himself – knows quite what sort of rider he is, or will become as he embarks on his first season with Soudal Quick-Step.

On the one hand, you have a budding sprinter with a frightening turn of pace. On the other, you have someone who can deal with punchy climbs and accelerations and still sprint at the end of a hard race – in other words, a Classics rider.

To see where his future might lie, Lamperti is in Belgium this week for a trio of races, starting with Wednesday’s Classic Brugge-De Panne and then getting more intense with Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen.

After his Monument debut at Milan-San Remo at the weekend, the voyage of discovery continues for the 21-year-old with a proper run at some big cobbled Classics.

“You kind of go off what you believe you’re good at, and I think I’ll be more of a Classics rider, but I’m still so young that it’s hard to say exactly what I’ll do in the end,” Lamperti told GCN at Brugge De Panne, where he worked for the runner-up Tim Merlier.

“I’ve done quite a few sprints and was sprinting at the start of this year, but I don’t know if I’ll have the peak speed of the pure sprinters in the end – maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Normally I can survive quite okay on some climbs but it’s a different ball-game when you do the big Classics, so we’ll see what I can do or best at and hopefully ride for that in the future.

“If I become a sprinter I become a sprinter, if I’m best in the Classics I’ll become a Classics rider, but luckily I’m in a team that can support me in both and has a really good history in both.”

• Read more: I won’t force it: Luke Lamperti chasing his first Soudal Quick-Step win after top-ten Classics debut

Lamperti wasn’t supposed to ride Gent-Wevelgem, but the prestigious cobbled Classic has been added to his schedule much like Milan-San Remo was at the weekend. It’s a testament both to his talent and his rapid progress that he has had the call-up to two such important fixtures, within a team that has the Spring Classics running through its DNA.

Lamperti, who came through the renowned LUX programme in the US before spending three years with Tom Pidcock’s old UK-based Trinity development squad, has hit the ground running in his first professional season. He has yet to land that first win, but he has podiums from the Challenge Mallorca, Muscat Classic and Tour of Oman.

His first taste of the cobbles came with a top-10 at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, followed by more Merlier support at Nokere Koerse, but this period represents the beating heart of the Classics.

“It’s been a real nice start to the season. At the beginning, I surprised myself a bit with jumping into the level but at the same time we now start the real Classics, it’s another step up from that, so we’ll see how this block goes. It’s the start of another block and we go full gas now.”

Soaking it all up

Despite making his Monument debut already, it doesn’t look like these cobbled races mark a potential path to a debut in the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix. Lamperti is not ruling it out completely – injuries could happen, for example – but for now, he’s just soaking in every experience that he can.

• Read more: Spring Classics 2024: Essential guide to the races and riders

“Everything is new for me. I’ll stay in Belgium for a while, do some recons and feel the excitement around it. I’ve always watched the Classics so now to be here racing them, for Quick-Step, is a great feeling.

“It’s nice to gain some experience in these races, go to them without pressure and really be able to take it all in and enjoy it, as a neo-pro. We have some big names in this team and I’ll just be trying to learn as much as possible from them.”

The building blocks are being laid for the future, and the hype surrounding Lamperti was only intensified last weekend when his team boss Patrick Lefevere described him as “the US poster boy Specialized has been seeking for so long.” In the week that Canyon unveiled a mammoth 10-year personal sponsorship deal for Mathieu van der Poel, it’s worth noting that Lamperti has been backed by Specialized, which hails from his native California, for six years now.

“It’s nice to have expectation but not too much pressure and that’s what the team has done really well – expectation without the pressure. And I think I can rise to the level,” Lamperti said.

“Normally I think I’ll enjoy these cobbled races in the future, so I'm looking forward to doing as many as possible this year and gaining that experience for the future and one day come to try to win quite a few of them.”