Several Etixx - Quick-Step riders will be competing as part of their respective national teams at the 215.8km road race of the 1st European Games at Baku 2015, in Freedom Square, on Sunday, June 21st. The race features 16-laps, including a 3.5km ascent in the first part of each lap. The riders will reach the top of the climb for the last time with 8km to race, and there is then a downhill to the finish.
Tom Boonen, who just won Rund um Köln last weekend and also won Stage 2 of Baloise Belgium Tour, will be at the start representing Belgium. He will be supported by Etixx - Quick-Step teammate Stijn Vandenbergh. Niki Terpstra, 2014 Paris-Roubaix winner and the overall winner at Tour of Qatar in 2015, will represent the Netherlands. Julian Alaphilippe and Maxime Bouet will both start for France. Alaphilippe, who just turned 23-years-old, won the Mt. Baldy Stage of Amgen Tour of California solo this year. He also earned two podium placings in the Ardennes Classics. Maxime Bouet built his condition with a hard three weeks of racing at the Giro d'Italia. Finally, young Petr Vakoc will race for the Czech Republic. He earned his first professional victory at Stage 2 of Tour de Pologne in 2014.
More information about the European Games Men's Road Race, including a full start list, can be found here: http://www.baku2015.com/cycling-road/index.html