Mark Cavendish will be our squad’s main card Sunday afternoon.
Back in the calendar after three years, the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen will be not just the final outing of our team this season, but also the last race with Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl for four members of the Wolfpack: British Champion Mark Cavendish, a winner of 15 races in the past two seasons, Iljo Keisse – who will retire after a long career, which saw him spend 13 consecutive years with the squad – Stijn Steels and sports director Rik Van Slycke.
Starting and finishing in Arendonk, the 24th edition of the Belgian one-day race takes place over a flat 174.7km course that doesn’t have any difficulties and so should see the sprinters go for victory at the finish. Joining Cavendish, Keisse and Steels on the start line for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl will be Tour of Slovakia winner Josef Cerny, Jannik Steimle, Bert Van Lerberghe and Stan Van Tricht.
“The parcours is a flat one and with no wind whatsoever, it’s very likely we’ll have a bunch sprint at the end of the day. It’s the last race with the Wolfpack for many of us, so it will be an emotional day, but our focus will be on getting a good result. Mark has a really strong team on which he can rely and together we’ll try to fight for the win”, said Rik Van Slycke.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
