The first appointment of the month will see the young wolves race on the cobbles.
In Flanders Fields - In Ieper/Kattekoers is a race where our feeder team has scored some impressive results in the past three years. At the 2023 edition, Gil Gelders arrived alone at the finish to take one of his biggest victories in the U23 ranks, while one year later, Andrea Raccagni - who is preparing now to make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro - finished in third place from a strong chasing group.
Starting and concluding in Ieper, the 84th edition takes place over a 186.2km parcours whose main attraction is the Kemmelberg, the legendary climb that the peloton will tackle on three occasions. The last time this happens will be with just 23 kilometers to go, giving the attackers a big chance to open an important gap and carry it all the way to the finish.
Soudal Quick-Step Devo will start the Belgian one-day race with a six-man team consisting of Hodei Muñoz, Luc Royer, Joeri Schaper - a top-five finisher at Paris-Roubaix last month - Matijs Van Strijthem, Erazem Valjavec, and Marc Zafra.
“Kattekoers is a hard race, and those three ascents of the Kemmelberg will have quite the impact on the outcome. We go there with a strong team that is capable of some nice things. The confidence is high in the squad after our most recent outings and we believe in our chances of getting a good result on Sunday”, said sports director Eliot Lietaer.
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