Laurens Huys : "Riding for a French team has always been a dream"
27th in the 2023 Giro d’Italia, climber-puncher Laurens Huys will join the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS UCI WorldTour team from 1 January 2024. He will be our third Belgian rider.
Laurens’ words:
“I’ve always watched the Arkéa-Samsic team, which will become ARKEA-B&B HOTELS next year, ever since I turned professional. Racing in France has always been a dream of mine. I believe that if you want to become a professional rider, you have to wear the colours of a French team. We have some very good races in Belgium, with some great classics and quite a few Monuments, but the French calendar is just extraordinary, with some of the best stage races on the calendar. I’ve always liked the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team, in its strategy, its way of racing and its desire to race. Emmanuel Hubert was a great person to meet and I’ve always wanted to race for him. I’m delighted to be joining the team. I have a lot of ambitions for 2024. At the Giro d’Italia, I also saw how the team and its staff operated. And that definitely appealed to me. I’m a climber-puncher. Clément Champoussin is one of my buddies in the peloton. My aim will be to help him win some great races, or stages in the Grand Tours, starting next year.”
“I met Laurens Huys somewhat anecdotally during one of our team’s winter training sessions in Altea. I immediately liked this rider’s personality, his simplicity, his outspokenness and his sense of humour. He has great human qualities, but he’s also physically very strong. Laurens is still young at 24, but he’s a rider who’s already put in some fine performances. The most significant for me was his 27th place overall in this year’s Giro d’Italia. This rider is a great addition to our climber-puncher team”.