Etixx-Quick Step have named a very strong team to line up in the Eneco Tour which starts tomorrow. Tom Boonen, Bob Jungels, Iljo Keisse, Marcel Kittel, Tony Martin, 2013 race winner Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra and Matteo Trentin will line up at the start in Bolsward, which gets to host the depart for the second consecutive year.
The Eneco Tour takes place in the Netherlands and Belgium over seven days and covers nearly 1,000 kilometres, and there will be opportunities for all type of riders, from sprinters to time trialists and from cobbles specialists to the Ardennes men.
A short individual time-trial, a 20.9-km long team time-trial and a couple of stages which include some tough climbs, such as Côte du Bois de la Dame, Rue Trois Fontaines, D’Houppe, Bosberg or the legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen, will be decisive for the final general classification.
Over the past number of years, Etixx – Quick-Step have taken 16 stage victories at the Eneco Tour and will look to add to this impressive tally next week.
“Eneco Tour won’t be easy, with all the cobbles, hills and the two stages against the clock, but we are motivated to leave our mark on it,” said Directeur Sportif Tom Steels.
“We can be protagonists on the flat and in the time trials, so we hope to get some good results there, while in the overall we’ll have several cards to play – with the likes of Bob, Tony and Niki – but we will take things day by day and see how it goes.”
“There’s also the golden kilometer and we must pay attention to it, because those seconds can prove important at the end of the week. I’m sure the race is going to be an exciting one and it will come down to the last stage, as the gaps won’t be too big up until that point.”
