Five riders from the Lotto-Soudal team did a reconnaissance of sections of the courses of some upcoming classics over the past weekend.
On Saturday, Tiesj Benoot, Frederik Frison, Moreno Hofland, Nikolas Maes and Jürgen Roelandts rode about 140 kilometres on the roads of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the company of Directeur Sportif Herman Frison. The following day, they covered 200 kilometres to familiarise themselves with the courses of both Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and E3 Harelbeke.
Benoot will be amongst the favourites in these cobbled classics. In last year’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the young Belgian rider finished in 3rd place in addition to finishing in 7th place at E3 Harelbeke. Roelandts has also had some top placings in the Northern classics, having finished in 2nd place in E3 Harelbeke in 2011 and 3rd in the Tour of Flanders in 2013.
Herman Frison: “Some guys already know the area very well of course, but others much less. And it’s useful to see the hills and cobbles again, also for me. It has been ten months since we raced on these roads and during such a training you see things that could be important in the race.”
“We have chosen to do the recon this weekend because there’s a risk that the weather will be bad a few days before the Omloop and then you can’t move the date anymore. Now we were able to do these recons without stress and without much rain. Such rides are also perfect to test the tubes and tyre pressure.”
