AG Insurance – Soudal in action on home soil

AG Insurance – Soudal in action on home soil

Three consecutive one-day Belgian races for our team, who’ll count also on some promising riders from our feeder squad.

Antwerp Port Epic will be the first appointment of the weekend for AG Insurance – Soudal, with our team set to take this Saturday on the third edition of this race where last year we placed two riders in the top ten. The course is a pan-flat one, but the presence of more than 30 cobblestone sectors and some gravel roads come with the promise of an attritional race, where the peloton can be splintered early, leaving only a handful of riders in contention for the win.

Our team for the 125km race will comprise Leonie Bentveld, Billy Goossens, Marthe Goossens, Ilse Pluimers, Nicole Steigenga and Amandine Muller, and sports director Stijn Steels is confident in the squad’s chances: “More than half of the route consists of cobblestones and gravel, which means you also need some luck. We have a strong cast, with Leonie – one of the best cyclo-cross riders of her generation – but also other motivated riders who can do something nice there. We go to the start with the ambition of getting a good result and we are ready to do our best for this.”

One day later, Billy Goossens, Marthe Goossens, Amandine Muller, Ilse Pluimers, Nicole Steigenga, Marith Vanhove and Luca Vierstraete will be in Boezinge for Dwars door de Westhoek, a flat race where the wind could wreak havoc. Finally, on Monday, Ilse, Nicole and Marith will be joined by Messane Bräutigam, Alana Castrique, and Helena Jones for the GP Mazda Schelkens, held around Borsbeek.

“We have some strong mixed teams for these two races, which will include riders from our U23 squad, and it’s going to be exciting to see how they will do there. Westhoek will be windy, but we have riders capable of being in the mix in these circumstances. With more cards to play, we can go in the breakaway, but we can also be involved in the fight in case of a fast finish”, explained AG Insurance – Soudal sports manager Jolien D’hoore. “Monday’s event is similar to a kermesse, meaning that we’ll have to cover more laps of a circuit, where a breakaway can prevail, but also a bunch sprint is possible at the end of the day. Going there with strong riders makes us confident that we aim for a solid result.”