Deceuninck - Quick-Step have revealed their stacked squad for the opening Classics weekend, with Julian Alaphilippe making his Omloop Het Nieuwsblad debut.
The Belgian WorldTour squad will be changing up their roster for the first two cobbled races of the season, Omloop and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, on Saturday and Sunday (February 27-28).
Reigning world champion Alaphilippe will start his cobbled Classics campaign on Saturday, but will be skipping the Sunday racing as the team targets a potential sprint finish in Kuurne with Alvaro Hodeg.
The squad for the weekend will also feature the likes of Davide Ballerini, Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Štybar and Florian Sénéchal.
Deceuninck sports director Tom Steels said: “It’s finally that time of the year, the Opening Weekend which riders and fans love so much. We are excited and really looking forward to it. Julian will have another nice shot of showing what he is capable of doing on the Flemish roads, after last year’s De Ronde. It will be great to see him ride a prestigious race as Omloop clad in the rainbow jersey.”
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Steels added: “We are curious to see Davide Ballerini – who had a superb start to the season in Provence – in action.
“Last year he was slated to make his cobbles debut for us, but due to the weird season that we had, this has been postponed for this year. Styby is a former winner of Omloop, while Kasper produced a masterpiece at the previous edition of Kuurne. Yves, who was again strong on the cobbles last season, Florian, Tim – who everyone is used to see at the front pulling hard for the team – Alvaro, Jannik, Stijn and Bert will provide us with a lot of options and firepower for the weekend, which we await with plenty of confidence and motivation.”
Deceuninck Quick-Step squad for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2021
Julian Alaphilippe (FRA)
Kasper Asgreen (DEN)
Davide Ballerini (ITA)
Tim Declercq (BEL)
Yves Lampaert (BEL)
Florian Sénéchal (FRA)
Zdenek Stybar (CZE)
Deceuninck - Quick-Step squad for Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
Kasper Asgreen (DEN)
Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (COL)
Yves Lampaert (BEL)
Stijn Steels (BEL)
Jannik Steimle (GER)
Zdenek Stybar (CZE)
Bert Van Lerberghe (BEL)
