Tom Boonen on the juice - in new Lidl campaign for Classics season

The marketing world is full of cautionary tales about how what works in one language may not have the same impact in another - as Etixx-Quick Step and Lidl may be about to discover after the launch of a campaign that sees Tom Boonen pedalling a bike hooked up to an orange juice extractor.

The campaign, called The Last Kilometer, coincides with the start this weekend of the cobbled Classics campaign, kicking off with tomorrow's Omloop Het Nieuwsbald, but for the English-speaking media, the headline pretty much writes itself.

The initiative also sees fans attending races in the coming weeks including the Tour of Flanders invited to see how they compare against Boonen.

Etixx-Quick Step says: "f you want to have fun and see if you can beat Boonen and squeeze more juice than he did while simulating the final kilometre of the iconic Ronde van Vlaanderen [Tour of Flanders], make sure you come at the Lidl stand in Gent on Saturday, from 9:30, and try your hand.

"No matter how much juice you'll make during your effort, you'll be a winner and leave for home with a unique bottle."

It could be, of course, that the team and Lidl are aware of the connotations in English, and that the irresistible opportunity for a pun will guarantee coverage in the Anglophone world (guilty as charged - Ed).

But what may leave a bad taste in the mouth is that we can't help thinking that while this is by no means the first time Boonen will have had to get some liquid into a bottle after finishing the Tour of Flanders route, it's almost certainly the first occasion he's taken a swig from the receptacle afterwards.