Our squad will go into Thursday’s race with a lot of motivation.
Leuven, the host of the 2021 World Championships won by Julian Alaphilippe, marks our first appearance of the month on Belgian soil, at the 58th edition of the Tour of Leuven, a race where our team triumphed twice. Known for its challenging parcours, which includes numerous hills and even some cobblestone stretches, the event is scheduled this Thursday and promises an exciting battle for victory.
Soudal Quick-Step will take on the 192.7km race with a young but determined squad, consisting of Gil Gelders, Antoine Huby, Luke Lamperti and Jordi Warlop, who will be joined by three riders coming from our devo team: Leander van Hautegem – a winner of three races in the last five weeks – Lars Vanden Heede, who took two victories and finished third overall at the Ronde de l’Oise this season, and former U23 Belgian ITT Champion Jonathan Vervenne.
“The Tour of Leuven is a beautiful race, which will see the peloton tackle three laps in Leuven before going onto the Flandrien loop, with its steep cobblestone climb that many know from the Worlds. From there, another three laps of the Leuven circuit await, so we can expect many moves. We have a motivated team that can go for a sprint with Luke, but we also have riders who can attack from the distance, so we are quite confident in our chances of scoring a good result at the end of the day”, said sports director Kevin Hulsmans.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
