Yves Lampaert and Remco Evenepoel will be in action at the first Hammer Series appointment of the season.
Hammer Stavanger kicks off this Friday, in Norway, where over three spectacular days, the second edition of the event will once again pit five-man teams against each other to determine the best squad. The first race will take place over an undulating course, starting at Madlaveien, just outside of the Stavanger Forum, and finishing at Grisabakken (20% maximum gradient), an 8.9km-long hill climb circuit comprising of nine and a half wearing laps.
On the second day, which will give the fast men the chance to score vital points and help their outfits, the peloton will head towards the Stavanger city center and take on a slightly downhill parcours. The first appointment of the third Hammer Series season will conclude on Sunday, when a hard team time trial held over a rolling terrain, in which the start order will be based on the points accumulated over the previous days, will determine the final general classification.
UCI World Team Ranking leader Deceuninck – Quick-Step will be at the start again, with a solid five-man squad consisting of neo-pro Remco Evenepoel, Alvaro Hodeg, Belgian Champion Yves Lampaert, Davide Martinelli and Petr Vakoč.
“The first two days will be very important to get into a good position for the Hammer Chase. For the Hammer Climb, we can play our cards with several riders, before going for points with Alvaro and Davide, twenty-four hours later, in the Sprint. The 48.9km time trial on the last day won’t be easy, especially as we have to race it with just five riders, but we are confident that we can pull off a nice result at the end of the weekend”, said sports director Tom Steels.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele/ Getty Images
Yves Lampaert 