In a time frame of 24 hours, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty will participate to Omloop het Nieuwsblad (Saturday) and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Sunday), two Flemish classics which traditionally form the Belgian opening weekend. For the team of Jean-François Bourlart, it is even a long weekend until Tuesday with the GP Le Samyn, the first race on Walloon territory on the calendar.
With six victories and fourteen podiums after one month of racing, never did the World Team head to the Belgian opening weekend with similar dynamics. For these three one day races, a group of eleven riders will be divided in rosters of seven men: Niccoló Bonifazio, Sven Erik Bystrøm, Dries De Pooter, Rune Herregodts, Arne Marit, Madis Mihkels, Hugo Page, Baptiste Planckaert, Laurenz Rex, Mike Teunissen en Taco van der Hoorn.
On Saturday, the first cobble classic of season 2023 will start from the velodrome ’t Kuipke in Ghent. The 76th edition of Omloop het Nieuwsbladcontains nine flat cobble sections in addition to the twelve climbs in the heart of the Flemish Ardennes. The long series of obstacles starts halfway through the course of 207 kilometer. Among them, the Molenberg makes its return after one year of absence 40 kilometer before the finish. The triptych Haaghoek, Leberg, Berendries and the duo Muur van Geraardsbergen-Bosberg stay the principal attractions on the way towards the new finish line in the Elisabethlaan in Ninove.
« We proved that one again has to reckon on Intermarché-Circus-Wanty in 2023 and its capability of getting the best out of its riders. I feel proud and it brings me a lot of pleasure to ride for this team. I’m happy that I contributed to this nice start of the season helping my teammates, now I aim to add my personal story starting from this weekend. » « Omloop het Nieuwsblad is the first cobble classic on my programme. It is a race I know pretty well, three years ago I anticipated a sprint of the peloton and finished 6th. We did the recon of the course with the team in November already. It was a good opportunity for me to test my new equipment. After four weeks of competition I can confirm that the bike is of excellent quality and this won’t be any different on the cobbles. This factor gives us confidence, the performance of the team in Paris-Roubaix last year is the best proof. » « Together with the performance team we decided that on Tuesday I would participate in the GP Le Samyn for the first time. It is an important race for my team, the first one of the year in Wallonia. It is one of the careful choices we made for my year planning and which motivates me a lot. I really believe in the vision of the team concerning the tailored annual race plans. They expect me to be present in the finals of several races this season, that’s my goal. »
« Our riders worked very hard the last couple of weeks to prepare the Belgian opening weekend. It is an opportunity for our young talents to make a new step or even discover these special races. Following the injuries and illness of Aimé De Gendt, Adrien Petit and Loïc Vliegen we had to compose our team without these three fixed values of our classics group. But our young riders showed very positive indications. Rune Herregodts, Arne Marit, Hugo Page and Laurenz Rex each achieved at least one top 5 already. » « Our Talent Coach Dimitri Claeys accompanied the team several times for course recons. It is an essential phase in the preparation of our youngest riders, guided by fixed values such as Sven Erik Bystrøm, Baptiste Planckaert or Taco van der Hoorn. I'm particularly looking forward to the debut of Mike Teunissen in our colors. We can take important lessons from these three first races in Belgium, discovering which efforts we still have to make to be present all spring. »
