This is the Ineos Grenadiers line-up for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2021
The British team name a young squad for the opening races of the Classics
Ineos Grenadiers have announced the team that will be riding both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this coming weekend. The British team is fielding a rather young looking squad, with one or two exceptions.
The likely leaders for the team are Italian Gianni Moscon, who put in a very solid performance at the Tour de la Provence, and neo-pro Tom Pidcock, who will be making his Classics debut.
Pidcock, who is only 21-years-old, made a quiet Ineos debut at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var in mid-February, but will potentially relish the challenging cobbled climbs of Belgium.
With Luke Rowe on the other side of the world at the UAE Tour and Ian Stannard now retired, the support riders are a bit different to what we're used to seeing for the super-team.
Firstly, the usuals: second place in the 2019 edition of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Owain Doull will be hoping he can carry that same form this year, and Michał Gołas is a veteran now and will be trusted with keeping the leaders in the right positions.
Another young British talent, Ethan Hayter, will also take to the start. The 22-year-old showed how good he was in 2019 with stage wins at the Tour de l'Avernir before an impressive victory at the Giro dell'Appennino in 2020.
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And finally, Italian Leonardo Basso and Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez complete the squad. The latter looked to be in good form as he managed a top 10 result on stage two of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var behind Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation).
The team will face a stiff challenge if they are to have a big impact on the two races as they are coming up against some of the strongest northern Classics riders in the business, albeit some missing the biggest of names.
Ineos Grenadiers have had a good past with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad more than Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne with the team winning on three occasions. Juan Antonio Flecha took the race in the team's first year before Ian Stannard went and won two years in a row in 2014 and '15, both in emphatic style.
>>> Five things to look out for at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2021
Whether the young-guns of Ineos can perform to near the same level is something that will become clear over the weekend.
Ineos Grenadiers Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne line-up
Tom Pidcock (GBr)
Gianni Moscon (Ita)
Ethan Hayter (GBr)
Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu)
Michał Gołas (Pol)
Leonardo Basso (Ita)
Owain Doull (GBr)
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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.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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