diff --git a/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py b/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py
index c6ec97eb..329d9de5 100644
--- a/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py
+++ b/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py
@@ -16,9 +16,7 @@ from docling.datamodel import asr_model_specs
 
 # Import the following for backwards compatibility
 from docling.datamodel.accelerator_options import AcceleratorDevice, AcceleratorOptions
-
 from docling.datamodel.asr_model_specs import WHISPER_TINY as whisper_tiny
-
 from docling.datamodel.layout_model_specs import (
     LayoutModelConfig,
     docling_layout_egret_large,
@@ -28,7 +26,6 @@ from docling.datamodel.layout_model_specs import (
     docling_layout_heron_101,
     docling_layout_v2,
 )
-
 from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options_asr_model import (
     InlineAsrOptions,
 )
diff --git a/docling/models/base_model.py b/docling/models/base_model.py
index dd019216..c8691e17 100644
--- a/docling/models/base_model.py
+++ b/docling/models/base_model.py
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@ from docling_core.types.doc import BoundingBox, DocItem, DoclingDocument, NodeIt
 from PIL import Image
 from typing_extensions import TypeVar
 
-from docling.datamodel.base_models import ItemAndImageEnrichmentElement, Page
+from docling.datamodel.base_models import (
+    Cluster,
+    ItemAndImageEnrichmentElement,
+    Page,
+    TextCell,
+)
 from docling.datamodel.document import ConversionResult
 from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import BaseOptions
 from docling.datamodel.settings import settings
@@ -29,10 +34,18 @@ class BasePageModel(ABC):
     ) -> Iterable[Page]:
         pass
 
+
 class BaseLayoutModel(BasePageModel):
     @abstractmethod
-    def predict_on_page_image(self, *, page_image: Image.Image) -> list(Cluster):
-        pass    
+    def predict_on_page_image(self, *, page_image: Image.Image) -> list[Cluster]:
+        pass
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def postprocess_on_page_image(
+        self, *, page: Page, clusters: list[Cluster]
+    ) -> tuple[Page, list[Cluster], list[TextCell]]:
+        pass
+
 
 class BaseVlmModel(BasePageModel):
     @abstractmethod
diff --git a/docling/models/vlm_models_inline/two_stage_vlm_model.py b/docling/models/vlm_models_inline/two_stage_vlm_model.py
index b31d46a9..131b874e 100644
--- a/docling/models/vlm_models_inline/two_stage_vlm_model.py
+++ b/docling/models/vlm_models_inline/two_stage_vlm_model.py
@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ from typing import Any, Optional
 from docling.datamodel.accelerator_options import (
     AcceleratorOptions,
 )
-from docling.datamodel.base_models import Page, VlmPrediction
+from docling.datamodel.base_models import Cluster, Page, VlmPrediction
 from docling.datamodel.document import ConversionResult
 from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options_vlm_model import (
     InlineVlmOptions,
     TransformersModelType,
     TransformersPromptStyle,
 )
-from docling.models.base_model import BasePageModel, BaseVlmModel
+from docling.models.base_model import BaseLayoutModel, BasePageModel, BaseVlmModel
 from docling.models.layout_model import LayoutModel
 from docling.models.utils.hf_model_download import (
     HuggingFaceModelDownloadMixin,
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class TwoStageVlmModel(BasePageModel, HuggingFaceModelDownloadMixin):
     def __init__(
         self,
         *,
-        layout_model: LayoutModel,
+        layout_model: BaseLayoutModel,
         vlm_model: BaseVlmModel,
     ):
         self.layout_model = layout_model
@@ -51,13 +51,17 @@ class TwoStageVlmModel(BasePageModel, HuggingFaceModelDownloadMixin):
                         scale=self.vlm_model.scale, max_size=self.vlm_model.max_size
                     )
 
-                    pred_clusters = self.layout_model.predict_on_page(page_image=page_image)
+                    assert page_image is not None
+
+                    pred_clusters = self.layout_model.predict_on_page_image(
+                        page_image=page_image
+                    )
                     page, processed_clusters, processed_cells = (
-                        self.layout_model.postprocess_on_page(
+                        self.layout_model.postprocess_on_page_image(
                             page=page, clusters=pred_clusters
                         )
                     )
-
+                    
                     # Define prompt structure
                     if callable(self.vlm_options.prompt):
                         user_prompt = self.vlm_options.prompt(page.parsed_page)