Homecoming for Campenaerts at Belgium’s “Opening Weekend”

Victor Campenaerts, Dimitri Claeys and Sander Armée will lead the local charge for Team Qhubeka ASSOS (www.TeamQhubeka.com) for cycling’s iconic “Opening Weekend” of racing in Belgium.

The trio will be taking to their home roads on Saturday for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (200.6km), with Campenaerts and Claeys then also set to compete in Sunday’s Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne (199.2km).

In Saturday’s race, in which Jasper Stuyven is the defending champion, they will be supported by Dane Emil Vinjebo, Lukasz Wisniowski from Poland, the USA’s Sean Bennett and Austrian road captain Michael Gogl.

At this point, there is one change slated for Sunday’s line-up with Spain’s Carlos Barbero set to come into the line-up with Armée making way for the race in which Giacomo Nizzolo placed second in 2020.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad lineup [squad numbers]:

• Victor Campenaerts [55]
• Dimitri Claeys [29]
• Sander Armée [32]
• Emil Vinjebo [34]
• Lukasz Wisniowski [99]
• Sean Bennett [31]
• Michael Gogl [07]

Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne lineup [squad numbers]:

• Victor Campenaerts [55]
• Dimitri Claeys [29]
• Carlos Barbero [91]
• Emil Vinjebo [34]
• Lukasz Wisniowski [99]
• Sean Bennett [31]
• Michael Gogl [07]

Victor Campenaerts

I’m really looking forward to doing my first opening classics; my first cobblestone races as a Belgian rider. In Belgium the opening weekend is really important so at one point in your career you should go ahead and give it a try.

And that’s what I will do now, I’m really well prepared, I have been training on the parcours so often – I live on it – so it’s not hard to go on it at all. I’m really forward as I know it by heart and I’m super-motivated to go with a great, strong team there, let’s go for this.

Dimitri Claeys

I am very happy to race on my home roads, it is so special as Belgian rider to be able to do so – it feels in so many ways that the season starts now.

As a group, we’ve already created a good atmosphere following the “recon” and we’ll be prepared for some very exciting racing over the course of the weekend.

Lars Michaelsen – Sports Director

The Opening Weekend is always a special moment in the season, and as a team we of course are just so thankful for being a part of it.

The team has prepared well, spending time together as a group including a really good portion of time looking at the respective parcours. For the likes of Victor, Dimitri and Sander, racing at home will be an added motivation and we look forward to supporting them in that regard.

As is to be expected, the field promises to be of a very high-quality so we will look to play our part in what will no doubt be an exciting start to the Classics season as we shift towards the next phase of our season.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Team Qhubeka ASSOS.

Media Contact:
Jean Smyth (Head of Communications)
Email: jean@ryder.co.za
Mobile: +27 63 4701 1710 or +31 625 739 033

About Team Qhubeka ASSOS:
Team Qhubeka ASSOS (www.TeamQhubeka.com) is a purpose-led, high-performance team, fighting to win on the world's biggest stage, to inspire hope and create opportunity. Founded in 2007, Team Qhubeka ASSOS (formerly NTT Pro Cycling) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a UCI WorldTour license, in 2016.

We achieved our first major win in 2013 when Gerald Ciolek won Milan-San Remo, one of the five Monuments of cycling. We have competed in six Tour de France’s and notched up 7 stage wins, with Mark Cavendish wearing the coveted Yellow Jersey at the 2016 Tour de France.

We are a multicultural, diverse team with bases in South Africa, the Netherlands and Italy. There are 19 nationalities represented across our World Tour and continental feeder team rosters. Our focus on developing African cycling has resulted in more than 55 riders from the African continent be given the opportunity to race on the world stage, since the team's inception.

We race to help people to move forward with bicycles through our relationship with Qhubeka Charity. Through our work with Qhubeka, we have contributed to the distribution of over 30 000 bicycles in communities in South Africa.

About Qhubeka:
Qhubeka (www.Qhubeka.org) is a charity that moves people forward with bicycles.  People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics and jobs.

A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level – helping people to get where they need to go. 

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