SD Worx-Protime will toe the beginning line at this Sunday’s Tour of Flanders with defending champion Lotte Kopecky and runner-up final 12 months Demi Vollering, however Lidl-Trek’s line-up shouldn’t be underestimated.
The American outfit will discipline two potential winners Elisa Longo Borghini, who gained the race in 2015, and an on-form Shirin van Anrooij.
“I really feel excellent forward of Flanders tomorrow. To say I’m ‘tremendous assured’ can be a little bit an excessive amount of, however I’m simply actually joyful that I can trip with such a robust crew subsequent to me. We confirmed within the earlier races that we actually are a crew, and when using collectively, we will obtain nice issues, so I’m actually wanting ahead to Flanders,” Longo Borghini stated.
“That is one thing that we, sadly, couldn’t do final 12 months, and I want folks may actually perceive what we went by final 12 months as a result of many didn’t. That is our potential.”
Lidl-Trek has been energetic in all the Spring Classics, and Elisa Balsamo has gained two of the one-days at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Traditional Brugge-De Panne. In the meantime. Longo Borghini and Van Anrooij have performed a 1-2 punch, racing into breakaways and the highest 10s.
The Italian Champion was third at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, second at Strade Bianche and sixth within the breakaway dash at Dwars door Vlaanderen. Equally, Van Anrooij was fourth at Omloop, fifth at Strade and second at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
“Lastly, we’re racing in a manner that reveals our full potential, and this might have been us final 12 months, too, however due to many accidents and illness, we couldn’t do what we knew we had been able to,” Longo Borghini stated.
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“So, now, we’re actually simply displaying how robust we’re, how robust we all the time have been, and the way eager we’re to make the race exhausting and to get the very best out of each race.”
Van Anrooij stated that whereas the Lidl-Trek crew is happy with their Spring Classics marketing campaign, to date, they wish to obtain extra. She believes that they’ll win Flanders in the event that they proceed to race with robust crew cohesion.
Lidl-Trek’s crew on the Tour of Flanders may also embody 2016 winner Lizzie Deignan, Lauretta Hanson, Elisa Balsamo and Lucinda Model.
“Elisa [Longo Borghini] and me have been in lots of finals collectively now and I feel we will probably be there in Flanders once more. With Lizzie, Lucinda, Lauretta and Barzi [Elisa Balsamo], we now have proved up to now we will obtain outcomes collectively, and so, I hope we will play the sport the best way we wish to at Tour of Flanders,” Van Anrooij stated.
