Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team has announced the selection that will participate in Brussels Cycling Classic, a 196.9km race on Saturday, Sept. 7th.
“In a certain way it is a new race, with a start and finish in Brussels,” Sport Director Wilfried Peeters said. “The race is a good preparation for UCI Road World Championship and the two races in Canada the following weekend. The race will be more difficult than last year because Brabant is more up and down. So the race has more hills than in the past. In the last part of the race, from kilometer 120 to kilometer 160, the riders will have to pass seven climbs consecutively: Langestraat four times, Vossemberg two times, and Smeysberg twice as well. From the last passage on the top of the Langestraat there will be 30kms to go to the finish in Brussels. The final will be near the Atomium, where in 2010 Alessandro Petacchi won a stage at the Tour de France. But the parcour for this race is different than that stage. Petacchi will be our option for the race in case of a massive sprint. But we also have several cards to play in the small climbs before the finish, to try and make the final in case of a breakaway.”
Riders Dries Devenyns (BEL)
Iljo Keisse (BEL)
Nikolas Maes (BEL)
Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
Niki Terpstra (NED)
Matteo Trentin (ITA)
Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL)
Julien Vermote (BEL)