Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team selections for upcoming weekend

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News 2010

Published on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 18:46

Written by Marcella Crisanti

On Saturday February 27th the Omloop het Nieuwsblad takes place, on Sunday February 28th follows  Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and the Clasica de Almeria.

The Omloop het Nieuwsblad exists since 1945 at is 201k long. The Vacansoleil-riders for this race are: Jens Mouris, Lieuwe Westra, Johnny Hoogerland (The Netherlands), Björn Leukemans (Belgium), Romain Feillu (France), Marco Marcato (Italy) and Borut Bozic (Slovenia). The last spot will be for Alberto Ongarato (Italy) or Frederik Veuchelen (Belgium). Jens Mouris was part of the strong team that won the Tour of Qatar with Wouter Mol: “It will be hard with the rain and cold and I hope my body is adjusted to the weather. With this team we have to be able to play a key role.”

Sunday follows the 63th edition of Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne over 194k. In 2009 the race was won by Tom Boonen. Four Dutch Vacansoleil-riders come to Kuurne; Bobbie Traksel, Arnoud van Groen, Joost van Leijen and Matthé Pronk. They are accompanied by; Albert Ongarato (Italy), Borut Bozic (Slovenia), Gorik Gardeyn and Frederik Veuchelen (Belgium).

With the stage wins at Besseges and the final win at Qatar the blue and yellow formation showed to be good in the early season. Johnny Hoogerland and Björn Leukemans got several top places. Sport director Hilaire Van Der Schueren is modest: “The bad weather in Europe and the weather change from the Middle-east made some riders a bit sick. Wouter Mol had to cancel for the weekend cause of illness and we still need a replacer for him on Saturday. First goal is to have a healthy team and we take it from there.”

At the Clasica Almeria the team starts with: Rob Ruijgh, Wout Poels (The Netherlands), Michal Golas (Poland), Sergey Lagutin (Uzbekistan), Brice Feillu, Stéphane Rossetto (France) and Matteo Carrara (Italy).

At March 3th the team does GP Le Samyn. With the Vuelta de Murcia (3-7 maart), Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen (5-7 maart) and Parijs-Nice (7-14 maart) all 23 riders have a stage race in the First weekend of March.