AG Insurance - Soudal to Nokere Koerse

A strong six-rider squad for Wednesday’s one-day race in Belgium.

Last year, our team was one of the key players at Nokere Koerse, trying to shape the race before the finale, where both Ilse Pluimers and Nicole Steigenga concluded in the top ten - making AG Insurance - Soudal the only squad with two riders there.

Ilse will be again on the start line for the seventh edition of the Belgian one-day race, where she will be joined by Fauve Bastiaenssen, Vuelta Feminas runner-up Shari Bossuyt, Marthe Goossens - second at the Samyn Ladies two weeks ago - Gladys Verhulst-Wild, and Devo rider Luca Vierstraete, who comes here after a solid outing at last week’s Vuelta a Extremadura.

The course is much harder than the one of last season, as the organisers have added more cobblestones and hills that could spark a bigger selection and leave an even smaller group in the fight for victory, at the end of the 133km race.

“We have a really strong team for Nokere. Marthe and Ilse have had some really strong displays recently, but also Shari and Gladys have racked up good results in recent weeks. These four riders give us cards to play in the finale. We’ll try to make it a hard race and see what we can do in the last part of the parcours, but what we can tell you is that we’re really looking forward to it and we’re determined to leave our mark on the race”, said AG Insurance - Soudal sports manager Jolien D’hoore.