Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Stybar headline our squad for next week’s appointment.
Two overall wins, 18 stages and six secondary classifications – it’s safe to say that the BinckBank Tour has been a happy hunting ground for the Wolfpack since 2003. Taking place this year over just five days, the World Tour race will see once again a strong Deceuninck – Quick-Step team line-up at the start, ready to take on a mix of flat and hilly stages (including one finishing on the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen), spiced up by a 10.9km-long individual time trial in Vlissingen.
Having shown a very good condition at the Tour of Slovakia, which he finished in third overall, Shane Archbold will be back in action, as he gets to display his New Zealand National Champion jersey for the first time this season in a World Tour race on European soil. Victorious here in 2013 and points classification winner five years later, Zdenek Stybar will also be at the start and will give our team several cards to play, together with Yves Lampaert, Florian Sénéchal, Stijn Steels, Tour of Slovakia champion Jannik Steimle, and Bert Van Lerberghe, who just last weekend came close to winning Gooikse Pijl.
“It’s the last stage race before the Classics for many of the guys and we are going there with a squad capable of getting in the mix and bringing a couple of good results. Some of our riders are coming to the start after showing a good form at the Tour of Slovakia, while others have done the Belgian Championships recently. We’ll try to do also a good general classification and we expect the Muur-Kapelmuur stage on the last day to be again decisive in the final outcome”, said Deceuninck – Quick-Step sports director Wilfried Peeters.
