This week will see 19 Deceuninck – Quick-Step riders compete for their national road or time trial championship title, across seven nations.
Since 2003, Deceuninck – Quick-Step has won a total of 49 National Championships with 26 different riders across 18 countries from three continents, most recent title on this impressive list coming last month, in Argentina, courtesy of Maximiliano Richeze.
Besides the South American, our team has in its ranks four other defending National Champions – Bob Jungels, Yves Lampaert, Michael Mørkøv and Elia Viviani – who over the next couple of days will line up, together with many of their teammates, for the National Championships, which more or less kick off the second part of the season.
Sports director Tom Steels, himself a four-time National Champion in the Belgian Road Race, made a preview of the upcoming events: “Several of our riders, like Rémi, Fabio or Bob, will be racing on their own, while others, and I’m thinking here of Elia, will rely on a few teammates, but unfortunately there’s a hard course this year in Italy, not really suited to him. In Belgium, even though we’ll have a couple of riders, we can’t control the race, so we have to be smart and take risks. The Nationals are never a race that we expect anyone to win, because it’s unpredictable and difficult to control, but we are confident and hope for the best.”
Belgium
ITT (June 27): Middelkerke – Middelkerke (38.4km)
Riders: Remco Evenepoel, Yves Lampaert.
Road Race (June 30): Gent – Gent (228.5km)
Riders: Tim Declercq, Dries Devenyns, Remco Evenepoel, Philippe Gilbert, Iljo Keisse, Yves Lampaert, Pieter Serry.
Czech Republic
ITT (June 27): Voderady – Voderady (41km)
Riders: Petr Vakoč.
Road Race (June 30): Trnava – Trnava (186.5km)
Riders: Zdenek Stybar, Petr Vakoč.
Denmark
ITT (June 27): Esbjerg – Esbjerg (39.8km)
Riders: Kasper Asgreen.
Road Race (June 30): Ribe – Esbjerg (226km)
Riders: Kasper Asgreen, Mikkel Honoré, Michael Mørkøv.
France
ITT (June 27): Clisson – La Haye-Fouassière (46.4km)
Riders: Rémi Cavagna.
Road Race (June 30): La Haye-Fouassière – La Haye-Fouassière (252.9km)
Riders: Rémi Cavagna.
Italy
ITT (June 28): Bedonia – Bedonia (38km)
Riders: Davide Martinelli.
Road Race (June 30): Borgo Val di Taro – Compiano (232.4km)
Riders: Eros Capecchi, Davide Martinelli, Fabio Sabatini, Elia Viviani.
Luxembourg
ITT (June 27): Differdange – Differdange (17.19km)
Riders: Bob Jungels.
Road Race (June 30): Soleuvre – Soulevre (175.1km)
Riders: Bob Jungels.
The Netherlands
Road Race (June 30): Ede – Ede (226.8km)
Riders: Fabio Jakobsen.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele/ Getty Images