Sunday brings one of the most important appointments of the season.
Our feeder team is taking this weekend on one of the most prestigious races on the U23 calendar, Paris-Tours Espoirs. Almost 180 kilometers in length, the course between Bonneval and Tours – known for the famous battle that took place there in 732 and for being the first city of the silk industry – brings a tasty combination of hills and gravel roads.
The famous Chemins de Vigne will spice up this event which in the past used to be tailored to the sprinters and fragment the peloton, turning the race into an attritional one. The picturesque but hard dirt roads of the Indre-et-Loire department end around 15 kilometers from home, making a regrouping highly unlikely and favouring the attackers.
Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team will be at the start of Paris-Tours Espoirs with Jelle Harteel, Senne Hulsmans, Jasper Schoofs, Matijs Van Strijthem, and Lars Vandeen Heede, a strong team that makes sports director Kevin Hulsmans confident in our squad’s chances of a solid outing: “It’s the last big race of our season, and we know it’s going to be a tough one. We have a versatile squad, capable of going in the breakaways, but also of being there at the end of the day and fighting for a good result.”
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
