This Saturday, the peloton will gather in the Campine region for the Heistse Pijl (1.1, 31/07). The 192.1 kilometer race has Vosselaar as a new start venue, from where the peloton will race 98.5 kilometer to Heist. Six local laps with the Heistse Berg, situated 1 kilometer before the finish line, are scheduled. The traditional bunch sprint can eventually be avoided by smartly making use of this difficulty.
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux has chosen a mix of Dutch and Belgian riders for this one day race. Corné van Kessel missed the podium of the Heistse Pijl in 2017 and will appear at the for the fourth time this Saturday. Wesley Kreder, returning into competition after a long training block, and Boy Van Poppel, recovering from the Tour de France, are his compatriots in the line up. The four Belgian riders defending the colors of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux are Aimé De Gendt, Tom Devriendt, Ludwig De Winter and Baptiste Planckaert. Hilaire Van der Schueren and Bart Wellens will work together as sports directors.
We're heading to the Heistse Pijl with a clear goal: we're aiming for the victory. This is a realistic goal for this strong team, however, I expect that it will be difficult to break the control of the two sprinter's teams from Groenewegen and Jakobsen. But maybe something is possible on the Heistse Berg 1 kilometer before the finish line. We'll decide tomorrow on our leader for the sprint. Tom Devriendt and Baptiste Planckaert have proven their abilities in bunch sprints in the past, but I especially expect Boy Van Poppel to be very strong coming from the Tour de France. De Gendt and Planckaert have a decent Tour de Wallonie behind their back, the others prepared well thanks to training schedules from Frederik Veuchelen and kermess races. Our seven riders are ready to be successful tomorrow!
Selection:
Aimé De Gendt
Tom Devriendt
Ludwig De Winter
Wesley Kreder
Baptiste Planckaert
Corné van Kessel
Boy van Poppel
Sportive Direction:
Hilaire Van der Schueren
Bart Wellens
