The Quick Step team will be sending a strong team to the start of the Tour of Belgium in Buggenhout on May 25th, with team captain Tom Boonen making his first appearance since participating in the spring Classics. The Belgian team will be looking for some results on home soil as they try to get themselves back on track after rival team Omega Pharma-Lotto took over as the country's top team after an impressive early season.
"It's a nice Tour of Belgium with an interesting route," Sports Director Wilfried Peeters said of the five-day event. “The third stage with the Kemmelberg and the fourth one on the Ardenne are two difficult sections in which it will be important to race carefully and focus. As far as we're concerned we're lining up for the start with a squad that can really make a mark both in the standings and in the single stages."
The squad will be looking to fire off Tom Boonen for any field sprints, and will look to him to ride a solid prologue. Dutchman Niki Terpstra and Czech Zdenek Stybar will also be hitting the race on good form. Stybar, the former world cyclocross champion, has recently made the switch to road racing, and so far has impressed with a third place finish in his first race with the team, the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque.
"Terpstra and Stybar are motivated, we'll see what they can do in this race," Peeters continued. "Boonen is back after the Classics and a subsequent high altitude training camp and he's motivated to put in a good race."
Gert Steegmans will also be taking the start as he tries to come back from bad luck in the Tour de Picardie. The Belgian was on the receiving end of an incident that took much of the peloton out of contention during stage two of the race. A subsequent examination and x-rays revealed that he had a fractured seventh rib.
"Steegmans seems to have recovered from a fracture to his seventh left rib which he incurred in a fall at the Tour de Picardie," said Peeters. "Gert has managed to train consistently, during the race we'll see if he's already recovered 100 percent."
Quick Step for the Tour of Belgium:
Tom Boonen (BEL)
Andy Cappelle (BEL)
Andreas Stauff (GER)
Gert Steegmans (BEL)
Zdenek Stybar (CZE)
Niki Terpstra (NED)
Kevin Van Impe (BEL)
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (BEL)
Sports Directors:
Wilfried Peeters (BEL)
Tom Steels (BEL)