CYCLING – Team Bahrain Victorious continues its early season classics campaign with back-to-back races in Belgium and France.
The squad will be lining up for the Danilith Nokere Koerse today and the Grand Prix de Denain-Porte du Hainaut tomorrow.
These two one-day races present another valuable opportunity for the team’s young group of riders to build experience in classic-style racing, featuring short, punchy climbs and challenging pavé sections.
The squad features a blend of young UCI World Tour and development team talent, with Alessandro Borgo and Bryan Olivo stepping up from the development team to take on Nokere Koerse, alongside Alberto Bruttomesso, Roman Ermakov, Daniel Skerl, Oliver Stockwell, and Vlad Van Mechelen.
Starting in Deinze, the Danilith Nokere Koerse course will challenge the riders with 1,450 metres of elevation gain across 12 climbs – six of which are cobbled.
In total, the peloton will face 23 kilometres of cobblestones, making it a test of handling and positioning on the narrow Belgian roads.
The following day, the riders will take on the “mini Roubaix” in France with the GP de Denain, featuring 13 challenging cobbled sectors covering 22.9km of the 200km course. It is a race that mirrors the demanding nature of the northern classics and offers another crucial development opportunity for the team’s younger riders.
Thomas Capra joins from the development team to replace Borgo.
Bahrain Victorious’ sports director Borut Bozic commented on the importance of the upcoming races. “These are two hard races which will provide these young riders with more development,” said Bozic. “The more they race in these types of races, the more they’ll be ready for the bigger classic races on the calendar in the future.
“GP de Denain is almost like a mini Roubaix and is a great race for these young riders. We have a good roster, and we hope we can take a top 10 in both races.”
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