Ineos Grenadiers reveal strong line-up for Brabantse Pijl 2021
The British team brings a mix of climbers and Classics riders at the lumpy Belgian semi-Classic
Ineos Grenadiers have announced their squad for the upcoming Belgian semi-Classic Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday April 14.
The British team have brought a mixture of climbers, Ardennes and cobbled Classic riders, with 2019 Giro d'Italia champion Richard Carapaz likely co-leading the team.
Carapaz has shown that he has solid form coming out of the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Basque Country in the last couple of weeks but missed out on GC in both races due to crashes. The Ecuadorian isn't the only strong name in the team, however.
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British talent, Tom Pidcock, continues his rather long schedule before he heads into his first Ardennes Classics campaign next week. Pidcock has looked relatively solid during the cobbled Classics but never quite managed the big result with his best performance a third place at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
One rider who will be hoping he is getting close to his top form in time for the upcoming Ardennes races is Irishman Eddie Dunbar who often is strong on these sort of races. The 24-year-old has a good kick but would likely be going for an early move.
The rest of the team is made up of solid workhorses: veterans Michał Gołaś and Cameron Wurf will be doing the early work for their leaders alongside Leonardo Basso, while super-domestique Luke Rowe will have the role of guiding his leaders into the right place at the right time.
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The 2021 edition of Brabantse Pijl starts in the town of Leuven, which will be holding this year's World Championships, before taking 201.7km of sharp climbs and cobbled sectors.
Ineos Grenadiers will have it tough though as some huge names of the sport are down to race including Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Stuyvan (Trek-Segafredo), and Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r Citroën Team) as they prepare for the Ardennes.
Other riders who are coming into the race with good form are Deceuninck - Quick-Step duo of Mikkel Honoré and Rémi Cavagna, as well as Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange), and Sep Vanmarke (Israel Start-Up Nation).
Former winners Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) and Petr Vakoč (Alpecin-Fenix) are both riding as well as last year's third place, Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r Citroën Team) who finished behind Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), both of whom are not riding.
Ineos Grenadiers squad for Brabantse Pijl 2021
Tom Pidcock
Richard Carapaz
Eddie Dunbar
Michał Gołaś
Leonardo Basso
Luke Rowe
Cameron Wurf
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
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