Soudal Quick-Step to the Opening Weekend

Kasper Asgreen, Davide Ballerini and Fabio Jakobsen will all be in action as we kick off our Classics season.

It’s that time of the year again! The cobblestones – the Wolfpack’s favourite hunting ground over the last two decades – are back at the end of this week, when in the space of just twenty-four hours Soudal Quick-Step will take on Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, two races that our team has won a total of thirteen times since 2003.

The iconic Muur-Kapelmuur – Bosberg combination should be again the key to victory Saturday afternoon, as from the top of the last climb only twelve kilometers remain to the finish in Ninove. One day later, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne gives the sprinters a rare opportunity to fight for a prestigious one-day race, even though past editions have shown that audacious long-range attacks have a chance of going all the way to the end, despite the last of the day’s many hills coming more than 50 kilometers from the finish.

Kasper Asgreen, former winner Davide Ballerini, Tim Declercq, Yves Lampaert, Casper Pedersen, French Champion Florian Sénéchal and Jannik Steimle will be our seven riders at the start of the 207.3km Omloop in just a couple of days’ time. Reigning champion Fabio Jakobsen and Stan Van Tricht will then join the team for Kuurne, where they will replace Declercq and Steimle.

“The Opening Weekend is one of the season’s special moments. We meet the amazing Belgian fans, we get to experience the incredible atmosphere that only the classics can produce, and we finally take on the cobbles. For Saturday, we can look to Ballerini, but also Asgreen or Pedersen, who showed nice things in Portugal, and Sénéchal will give us some good options. On Sunday, Fabio will be motivated to repeat last year’s victory, and we hope to be again in the mix and fight for the win”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Wilfried Peeters.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images