AG2R-La Mondiale head into the `Flemish Week` of cobbled classics at Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke and Sunday`s Gent-Wevelgem with a blanced squad of experience and youth. Belgian Stijn Vandenbergh headlines the squad with Sondre Holst Enger, Oliver Naesen and Alexis Gougeard providing added firepower to the team as Vandenbergh sits out Dwars door Vlaanderen. `I feel very good about it, and even though I was a little sick at the start of the season, I am ready to get some good results,` Vandenbergh said. `After Milan-Sanremo, I feel fit to come to the Flanderian classics with a lot of confidence and morale high. This week, I will only be racing E3 and Gent-Wevelgem. E3 has more climbs. It is similar to the Tour of Flanders in that respect. Gent-Wevelgem can be made very difficult by the weather.` Vandenbergh returned to AG2R-La Mondiale after stints with Katusha and Quick-Step where he made his name as a classics domestique while also claiming fourth places results at E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem and Tour of Flanders. Of the cobbled classics, Vandenbergh is targeting the Tour of Flanders but first, is focused on a good showing at the WorldTour racesADVERTISEMENT `For me, this is an important time of the season. In recent years I have gone to these races with Quick Step, a team for which these are among the most important events of the year,` he said. `I live 15km from Oudenaarde, which is kind of the center of the Flanders region. I know every road, every climb by heart. Of course, my dream is to win the Tour of Flanders. I finished 4th in 2014. The AG2R La Mondiale team is strong and motivated. `The legs are good, and if I am in the final this week, and I succeed in securing a place in the top-10, it will be a good sign for what follows.` In 2016, AG2R-La Mondiale`s classics campaign was derailed by the heart ailment which would later force Johan Vansummeren into retirement. 12-months on, and the French team will field a robust and balanced roster for ...
|
