Charles Liégeois Roastery CX, the cyclocross team of the structure Intermarché-Wanty, starts its fifth season in the mud with a team composed of six riders and coached by former double world champion Bart Wellens.
Two women and four men form the team of 2024-2025 of the unique professional cyclocross team in Wallonia, which recently completed a training camp in Spa and was presented to the press on Friday 27th of September on the occasion of an event organised by the Want You Club in the headquarters Belgian roastery Charles Liègeois in Thimister (Liège).
In the build up towards the first Belgian cyclocross on Saturday 12th of October in Beringen, the team already celebrated its first success thanks to the home victory of Kevin Kuhn in Illnau. The 26 year old Swiss rider starts his fifth winter with the structure of Jean-François Bourlart, after another summer of road racing with Intermarché-Wanty.
As a newcomer last winter, Gerben Kuypers brilliantly made his debut for the team with victories in Oisterwijk and Ardooie and by finishing close to the podium in the World Cup races in Dendermonde and Troyes, after which he was hit by sickness. The 24 year old Belgian rider starts his second winter as a professional rider with Charles Liègeois Roastery CX, after stepping up to the World Tour on the road with Intermarché-Wanty in April.
Former junior world champion Thijs Aerts began his third winter with Charles Liègeois Roastery CX after combining road programmes of Intermarché-Wanty and Wanty-ReUz-Technord this summer. The 27 year old Belgian rider concluded his last race with the team of Kévin Van Melsen, the Tour de Namur, with a victory in a bunch sprint on top of the Citadel. Last cyclocross season he collected three podium finishes and cumulated eight top ten finishes in Belgian races.
The newcomer in the team is the young eighteen year old Dutchman Keije Solen, vice junior world champion and one of the most promising talents in the Netherlands getting ready for his step up to the U23 category. In addition to his silver medal at the world championships in Tabor, Solen achieved thirteen other podiums and finished third in the overall standings of the World Cup last winter. As a first year junior he crowned himself the Dutch champion.
His compatriot Lauren Molengraaf, who recently celebrated her nineteenth birthday, starts her third winter with Charles Liègeois Roastery CX with important experience as she combined the road, cyclocross and mountainbike disciplines on the highest level. The European champion and overall winner of the World Cup in the junior category of season 2022-2023 finished several times on the podium on Dutch soil and in the top ten of the World Cup in Zolder in the elite category last winter.
Next to Lauren, Belgian rider Julie Brouwers is the second female professional athlete of the structure. At the age of 21, the started her first winter in the elite category with three podiums on German soil in September. The Belgian U23 cyclocross champion of 2022-2023 added a national gravel title to her palmares in May. Last winter she finished eight times in the top ten of Belgian elite races and just like Molengraaf she was among the ten best riders in the European and World Championships.
For this season, the riders of Charles Liègeois Roastery CX received brand new Cube Cross Race bikes in a design identical to the road models, equipped with NEWMEN wheels, a Shimano Dura-Ace groups, Ritchey seat posts and Prologo saddles and bar tape. Their cycling kits produced by Verge Sport remain unchanged compared to the design presented on 1st of January 2024. The logo of Charles Liégeois Roastery appears on the breast and on the back of the riders, but also on the sleeves and the thighs. The logo of Cube Bikes, the loyal German bike partner, is shown on the shoulders whereas Herock, work and protective wear specialist who dresses all riders and staff of the structure Intermarché-Wanty, slides on the sides of the jersey. The breast shows a link to the structure Intermarché-Wanty, to Atar, printer house and historical Swiss partner, to Alpha Motorhomes, provider of campers for all cyclocross riders during the winter, and to technical partners Cube, uvex and Verge Sport. RTL Play, the streaming platform on which you can notably watch several cyclocross races, is positioned on the collar of the athletes.
"I'm looking forward to the start of my second cyclocross season with Charles Liégeois Roastery CX next week in Ardooie. It's always nice to return to a race you won before. With Ruddervoorde a few days later, I'll be lining up in another competition close to home, in which I performed well last year. I'm hoping to play a major role, even if my intention is to build my form towards the most important part of the season. Unlike last year, when I immediately reached a very high level after the end of the road season, together with Bart Wellens and the rest of the performance team we planned a longer break between my last road race and my first cyclocross. This means that it will take some weeks to get back into the race rhythm, but already during our training camp I've been getting positive signals about the progression of my form." "I also feel that my first season on the road in the World Tour with Intermarché-Wanty has had a beneficial effect on my physical abilities. Above all, it was a process of learning and discovery, which motivates me to develop myself for stage races with hilly profiles in the future. I have especially good memories from the Tour de Suisse, the first World Tour stage race of my career. In the first stage, I took the mountain jersey thanks to a long breakaway. And in the queen stage I was able to survive among the best GC contenders, and for this accomplishment I received a lot of compliments from Belgian colleagues." "It's with great motivation that I'll be making my debut in the colours of Charles Liégeois Roastery, a new sponsor in the world of cyclocross who supports the projects of our structure with great enthusiasm. Over the last few months, we've discovered just how involved and supportive all the employees at Charles Liégeois Roastery are. They invest time in getting to know us off the bike and that gives us extra motivation to push ourselves, boosted by a cup of generous coffee!"
Gerben Kuypers Tweet
"I gained a lot of valuable experience over the last twelve months by combining cyclocross, mountain biking and road racing. It hasn't always been easy, because in each of the disciplines, a number of factors have made the transition from the Junior to the Elite category particularly difficult. In addition, physically not everything went smoothly. However, I'm keeping things in perspective by keeping in mind that these events are enriching and will be helpful this winter. For example, I've realised that long-term planning is essential." "With Bart Wellens and Lieselot Decroix, my trainer and performance director of FDJ-Suez, we established my calendar around the championships and training camps. The cyclocross championships are major personal objectives, as they are the only opportunities to compete directly with girls of my age in the U23 category. The start of the World Cup in Antwerp at the end of November is also an important date, as most of the World Cup races are ridden on a course that suits me. We've also chosen to include more competitions of lower categories in my programme, with the aim of competing more regularly for top results." "Last winter, I was regularly in the mix with the ten best riders in the world on technical courses. These are the performances I keep in mind to start my second winter in the pro category with confidence. My aim is to perform with better consistency, by showing progression in the harder races. I believe this is realistic if my training includes more volume, knowing that my road and mountain bike programme of the past summer has made me stronger. With Charles Liégeois Roastery CX, I want to exploit my margin for improvement in all areas, so that I can show the best of myself this winter. But no matter what, we can count on the support of all employees of our main sponsor Charles Liégeois Roastery - their passion for their job is contagious!"
Lauren Molengraaf Tweet
"Julie Brouwers has won national U23 titles in the cyclocross and gravel disciplines, proving that she is one of the most promising female offroad riders in Belgium. Women's cycling has seen a sharp increase in quality in recent years, so it's twice as difficult for young riders to reach the next level. This is our aim with Julie, without putting any pressure on her. In the long term, I'm convinced that she can make it into the world's top fifteen in the women's professional cyclocross peloton." "Thijs Aerts stands out for his determination, enthusiasm and the good atmosphere he brings to training sessions and races. A world champion title, whatever the category, is a testament to great ability. I think Thijs can enter the top 10 in the world if he works hard. I've also seen him very motivated in service of our road teams. His victory in the Tour de Namur showed that he's ready to start the cyclocross season in a good way, which can only bode well for this winter." "Kevin Kuhn is one of the top ten riders in the world since he joined our team. He kicked off his 2024-2025 cyclocross season with a home victory for the fourth year running. He's got the bit between his teeth and wants to conquer the Swiss title again this season, after being diminished by stress in the last two editions." "Gerben Kuypers will be making his debut in the colours of Charles Liégeois in Ardooie. He got off to a magnificent start last season, before being interrupted by physical problems. He stepped up to the highest level on the road with Intermarché-Wanty, so I'm expecting him to take things to the next level in terms of his physical ability and break through in the world's top ten like Kevin. "At the age of nineteen, Lauren Molengraaf is still young and receives the opportunity to develop at her own rhythm. Over the past year, she has combined three disciplines at the highest level. From now on, she will concentrate mainly on cyclocross and road racing. At the end of September, she just missed out on the medals at the national mountainbike championships, and immediately swapped bikes to join our training camp and start her cyclocross season in Ruddervoorde. "Keije Solen is a very promising young talent we've been following since he became Dutch champion. He's a very meticulous person, constantly focused on cycling and always looking to improve. I appreciate his temperament, the characteristic of a good rider. We're delighted to welcome such a talented rider to our squad, in our structure he'll be able to grow in a serene way and learn a lot from our pro riders."
Bart Wellens (Sports Director) Tweet