Dwars door het Hageland & Elfstedenronde B. - Laurent Pichon : "The Hageland ? A little something of Tro Bro Leon"
Dwars door het Hageland and Elfstedenronde Brugge will be the last two Belgian one-day races for Team Arkéa-Samsic riders before their respective national championships.
“I don’t often run this kind of race in Belgium. With its many paths, Dwars door het Hageland can look like a Belgian Tro Bro Leon. It’s a race I’ll be discovering, but one in which I hope to be able to exploit the same qualities as I did in May on the ribinoù. We’ve got riders who love this terrain, whether it’s cobbled or with stony paths. We’ll do everything we can to shine.”
“The Elfstedenronde Brugge is likely to end in a bunch sprint. It finishes with a circuit through Bruges, with some cobbled sections that will be an important passage on every lap. A lot of sprinters are bound to be at the start. I’m approaching it with a lot of motivation and above all the desire to regain the form I had in the first sprints of the Giro.”
“On Saturday, the roads on Dwars door het Hageland will be quite bumpy with lots of gravel sections. The selection will be made there and that will be decisive for the outcome of a very physical race that will come down to wear and tear. As with all races of this type, you’ll also need a little bit of luck to avoid any problems. The following day, the course around Bruges will be smoother, more suited to pure sprinters. Some sections will be exposed to the wind. How fresh you are will be key to a good result.”