Squads named for opening classics weekend & French races

Aiming to build on what has been a promising start at the UAE Tour, UAE Team Emirates will also head into the weekend with a full calendar of events across Northern Europe.

In Belgium the classics campaign begins with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on 27th Feb followed by Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on 28th Feb.

The team is spearheaded by the experienced duo of Alexander Kristoff and Matteo Trentin who will aim to join forces on the cobbles this spring.

Taking charge will be Sports Directors Allan Peiper (Aus) and Fabio Baldato (Ita) who will lead a group of seven riders:

 
-Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor)
-Ryan Gibbons (RSA)
-Alexander Kristoff (Nor)
-Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor)
-Marco Marcato (Ita)
-Matteo Trentin (Ita)
-Oliviero Troia (Ita)

Allan Peiper (Sports Director) : “We’re looking forward to the racing starting here in Belgium . The weather looks to be good, we’ll be doing our route recons this week to readjust to the cobbled roads after a few months away. As a team we’ll be hoping for success , especially through Kristoff and our new recruit Trentin who are our leaders this weekend.”

Alexander Kristoff : “Last years classics campaign ended well for me with a podium in Flanders so I’m hungry to come back and find that form again. The competition is high but we are keen to show that we can fight with any team not only in the Grand Tours but also in the classics.
Trentin is a good addition to the squad and we hope to be able to help each other in the hard finales.”

Meanwhile in France the team will have two races :the Faun-Ardèche Classic [1.Pro] on 27 Feb followed by the Royal Bernard Drome Classic [1.Pro] on 28 Feb.

Sports Directors’ Simone Predrazzini (Swi) and Manuele Mori (Ita) will take charge over the two races with the following seven man squad:

-Valerio Conti (Ita)
-Alessandro Covi (Ita)
-Joe Dombrowski (USA)
-Rui Costa (Por)
-Cristian Muñoz (Col)
-Ivo Oliveira (Por)
-Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr)