The riders for the Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team were presented to media, fans, and more on Friday. After the event, Michal Kwiatkowski, Dario Cataldo and Julien Vermote spoke briefly about the presentation, the 8.7km prologue on Saturday in Herning, and more.
Dario Cataldo:
It's a technical prologue, but i dont think it will be a big distance between the GC guys. Then also we have to see what happens for the team time trial.
The first big gap in the GC will happen after the team time trial. But we have also to see with the next two stages. Something could happen with the wind. I remember two years ago, with a crosswind. Some people lost time. Like me, I lost four minutes for the crosswind. So we have to pay a lot of attenton and be careful we don't lose time for nothing.
For tomorrow, the goal is to do a good time trial. I like it, and I wish to stay in the top ten. It's hard because there are so many time trial specialists it's not easy to do it.But we will try to do the best we can. It's always a good moment to take some seconds with the other GC guys.
Julien Vermote:
For my first grand tour, I am feeling OK. I don't really know what I can expect. It's a first time for me and I am looking forward to it. For me it will be a nice experience. Everyone tells me if I finish in Milan, next year I will be stronger. I will try to arrive in Milan but also want to show I am here. I will try, for sure, to go in breakway, but it's not that easy. But I think there will be some possibilities — and also, to do my job for the team, that is important. I will try to help (Francesco) Chicchi in the sprints for the first week, and then after that, maybe Cataldo. We will go for the GC, so I think we have a good team. We're good friends, which is is important. It's a three week stage race, and friendship is big.
The presentation was a nice experience. A lot of people were there and it's my first big tour. It's a nice organization so it was impressive.
I think the media attention will be a bit more than other races. It's a big tour. I think, being Belgian, the Belgian media will be here and will have a lot of attention for you. If you have good results and show you are in good shape. You will have more attention.
Michal Kwiatkowski:
I think it's really technical, the parcours. It's almost 9km. With 16 or 17 corners it's actually a lot, especially on the first 4 or 5 kilometers. We have a lot of corners. With the weather like we had the last two days it will be not dangerous, but if tomorrow will be raining a bit, it can be slippery on the corners. But, I like this kind of prologue. It's one of my specialties, so I hope I can make some good results. I am really motivated for tomorrow. I won one prologue in West Vlaanderen, it was almost 8km there. So I hope my legs are even better than West Vlaanderen. I am going to go full gas from beginning to the end.
For me, when the wind is stronger it is better for me. So, it won't bother me if it is windy tomorrow. I am a really small guy so I can fight with wind. The last 3km is a really big headwind, so I was actually happy with that. We will see.