Almost half of our team will be in action this weekend.
The World Championships in Australia are rapidly drawing to a conclusion, and our attention is already focused on Sunday’s road race in Wollongong, where more than a dozen Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl riders will be at the start.
For that reason, we asked sports director Tom Steels of what we could expect from them.
“We have some riders who can be very competitive on the course. Julian comes into the race as the defending two-time champion and we’ll have to see if his condition allows him to play an important role. If not, then he can be of help for his teammates, as he is the kind of guy that can change the dynamic of a race. Rémi will be there to ride at the front, he showed at the Vuelta how good he is, while Florian – who likes this type of course and came close to getting some wins recently – could be there depending on the context.
Andrea Bagioli and Davide Ballerini will be part of the Italian squad, and the former could be the surprise of the race. He showed his talents in Canada, finished on the podium in strong company in Montreal and the course suits him. Other riders who could feature in the finale and fight for a good result are Mikkel – who also had a strong outing in Canada and can count on an experienced captain such as Michael – and Mauro, who has enjoyed a good season, recently became World Champion in the TTT mixed relay and can end up in a move that ends up going all the way.
Of course, Remco will be one of the favourites, but it will all depend on his condition after what has been a hard Vuelta and on how things will unfold on that difficult route. Yves and Pieter will be there to help the Belgian team, but again, there are a number of factors that could influence the race.
Last but not least, we’ll have there also Zdenek – who rode well in Slovakia – and Jannik, who came close to getting a medal in the team time trial, and it remains to be seen if they can play a role.”
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
