First days of October will see the Wolfpack in action in Belgium and Germany, respectively.
Held in the Hainaut province, Binche-Chimay-Binche (197.4 kilometers) will see the riders take on a hilly and testing course which includes several laps of a circuit that should spice up the race and bring plenty of excitement. The last 1500 meters feature two cobbled sections and an uphill drag to the finish, where some squads will most likely try to split what already should be a thinned out field and bring their riders in a good position so that they can go for the win.
World Tour team classification leader Quick-Step Floors will have several cards to play on this terrain at the 31st edition of the Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke, as it comes here with a solid and well-rounded team, comprising 2014 winner Zdenek Stybar, Dries Devenyns, Philippe Gilbert – who returned to the peloton last week, scoring a beautiful victory in Grand Prix d'Isbergues – stagiaire Mikkel Honoré, Fabio Jakobsen, Belgian Champion Yves Lampaert and Ronde van Vlaanderen victor Niki Terpstra.
"Binche-Chimay-Binche is a hard race and this year it could be made even more difficult by the weather, as strong winds and rain are forecasted for Tuesday. This means we could be in for some tricky local laps with slippery cobblestones, but nevertheless, we are up for the challenge", said sports director Rik van Slycke.
Scheduled one day later, Münsterland Giro (Coesfeld – Münster, 198 kilometers) has a slightly undulated course, but that shouldn't prevent the sprinters from fighting for victory at the end of the day. Backed by a strong squad consisting of Rémi Cavagna, Tim Declercq, Iljo Keisse, Jhonatan Narvaez, trainee Barnabás Peák and Florian Sénéchal, Fernando Gaviria will try to get in the mix and battle for what would be his tenth victory of the season.
Geert Van Bondt, who will guide the squad from the car at the 13th edition of the German race, talked of Wednesday's appointment: "The race should come down to a bunch sprint and our team is motivated and capable of making the difference when it will matter. We have a strong outfit, which will be led by Fernando, but we won't take anything for granted, just try and make a good race and get another nice result as the season nears a conclusion."
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
Yves Lampaert 
