UAE Team Emirates-XRG ready for Baloise Belgium Tour and Giro dell’Appennino

Naming a seven-strong lineup, UAE Team Emirates-XRG is ready to race the Baloise Belgium Tour for the first time in its history, with the five-day stage race taking place from Wednesday, 18 June to Sunday, 22 June. Headlining Belgian hopes for the Emirati squad will be Florian Vermeersch, with strong time trialist Rune Herregodts in attendance, along with Gen Z hopeful Gibbe Staes.

The 19-year-old will be joined in his homeland by fellow Gen Z rider, Mohammad Almutaiwei, who recently impressed at the Tour de Hongrie and will be hoping to produce a similar string of performances this week.

In Hungary, the UAE U23 national champion ably supported teammate Sebastián Molano to a stage victory on the final day, and the Colombian sprinter will be on his wheel once again.

Just as his final-day victory in Hungary was taken in front of the Esztergom Basilica, there will be ample opportunities for memorable stage success this time out. Sprint finishes on the seafront in Knokke-Heist, and outside the Atomium in Brussels await over the coming days.

Joining their teammates on the roads of Belgium will be Rui Oliveira, who came narrowly close to a first professional victory at the recent Tour of Slovenia, and Filippo Baroncini, who will be making his first appearance since the Giro d’Italia. At the first Grand Tour of the season, Baroncini helped Isaac del Toro to second place overall, before sprinting to seventh in his own right on the final day in Rome.

As for Vermeersch, the 26-year-old will be attending his first stage race since February’s UAE Tour, with the Belgian enjoying an impressive Classics campaign that reached its zenith with fifth place at Paris-Roubaix. With a strong time trial in his locker and seventh place overall in 2023, Vermeersch will bring valuable experience and guile to the Emirati squad on its debut Baloise Belgium Tour outing.

First held in 1908, the Baloise Belgium Tour has a long and storied history, with Stan Ockers, Rik Van Looy and Remco Evenepoel all former winners of the event. That is not to mention the name Eddy Merckx, who counts two editions of the race on his palmarès.

For the 94th edition, the race organisers have plotted a characteristically entertaining route, with four road stages and one individual time trial on the agenda. First up will be two stages for the sprinters, but both of which have their own challenges for the fast men to overcome.

Stage 1 will be the longest of the race, standing at over 200km in length, including the neutral zone. Between Merelbeke-Melle in East Flanders and Knokke-Heist in West Flanders lie four sectors of cobbles, before a flat finish awaits on the seafront of Wandelaar. For the second stage, there are just two cobblestone sectors, but the latter Peulisbaan in Bonheiden sits just 7km from the finish line, throwing a potential spanner in the works of a sprint finish in Putte.

A short but important 9.7km-long individual time trial should spice up the general classification standings on stage 3, before the Queen stage of the race takes place on Saturday.

Lying in the heart of the province of Luxembourg, stage 4 packs in almost 2,933m of climbing across the hilly Ardennes. Between the start and finish in Durbuy, the peloton will have to conquer the Champs des Hêtres, Petite Sommes, Rue du Bout and Mur de Durbuy on four occasions. The final ascent of the Mur de Durbuy will guide the riders to the finish line, standing at an average gradient of 6.2% for 1.2km. This is a stage that will go a long way to deciding the overall victor of this year’s race.

Finally, stage 5 will draw the Baloise Belgium Tour to a close with a rolling circuit race beginning and ending in the capital city of Brussels. Five laps of nigh-on 38km will guide the peloton through Wemmel, Merchtem, Meise, Kapelle-op-den-Bos and Grimbergen, before a likely bunch sprint in the shadow of the Atomium.

Speaking ahead of the race, Vermeersch expressed his excitement for the week ahead on home roads.

Vermeersch: “I am looking forward to the Tour of Belgium. It is a home race and the start is just 15km from my house.

“It is a nice race with some opportunities for me. I want to do well in the TT and then on the hard stage in Durbuy on Saturday as well. I definitely have some GC ambitions this week, and I am looking forward to coming back to racing after a long break. The training has been all good so far and hopefully we will have a good week ahead.”

Meanwhile, quickly on the heels of the Baloise Belgium Tour, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will look to defend its crown at the Giro dell’Appennino in Italy. Taking place on Tuesday, 24 June, the 86th edition of this great race will see Jan Christen return to defend his title from last season.

Alongside Christen will be the 2020 runner-up Alessandro Covi, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG looking to make it three wins on the bounce in this one-day race. Hosted on a Tuesday, this year’s edition coincides with the feast of Saint John the Baptist in Genoa, alongside Italy’s Liguria Year of Sport.

Little has changed from recent seasons, with the medium-mountain semi-Classic showcasing some of the region’s toughest climbs before finishing on Via XX Settembre in Genoa.

Standing at 203.3km and with 2,832m of elevation gain along the way, this year’s route will feature a number of tricky climbs in the Ligurian Apennines, including the Passo dei Giovi, the Passo della Bocchetta, and the particularly difficult Lencisa. The latter has ramps in excess of 20% and will have the peloton’s strongest climbers licking their lips.

Joining Christen and Covi in Italy will be Julius Johansen, Domen Novak, Pablo Torres and a pair of Gen Z riders in Enea Sambinello and Mateo Pablo Ramírez. For Ramírez, this will be his debut outing for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

The 19-year-old Ecuadorian has signed a contract which will see him race for UAE Team Emirates Gen Z for the remainder of this season and through 2026. Ramírez has a string of positive performances in South America under his belt, and will learn his trade in Europe along with his fellow under-23 riders in UAE Team Emirates colours.