This Saturday, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux heads to Eijsden (The Netherlands) for the 47th edition of the Volta Limburg Classic (1.1, 2/04), a one day race of 195 kilometer with 38 hills in the Dutch and Belgian Limburg provinces.
With the Meuse river in the background, the peloton will rapidly encounter the Bemelerberg (0.8km at 5.3%), which has to be covered a second time after a loop containing the Loorberg (1.2km at 7.1%) and Camerig (2.5km at 6.3%). The second race half contains a triple passage on the Gulpenberg (0.4 km at 10.9%) and the Koning van Spanje (1.6 km at 4.4%). The peloton will then make a detour past the highest point of Flanders before riding back to the cobbles in the centre of Eijsden. At the end of a flat local lap of 6 kilometer, the winner will be chosen among the survivors of the selective race which returned to the calendar after two years of absence.
Loïc Vliegen, ninth in 2016 and 2017, will race on his training roads just like Kévin Van Melsen, who celebrated his 35th victory this Friday. They will race alongside their compatriots Baptiste Planckaert, who returns into competition since Paris-Nice, and Laurens Huys, who made his World Tour debut last week in the Volta a Catalunya. Danish rider Julius Johansen and Hungarian rider Barnabás Peák complete the selection under direction of Valerio Piva and Bart Wellens.
"As usual, I'm very motivated to support my teammates in the Volta Limburg Classic, especially because I know the parcours by heart. Since a young age I ride these hills every week and I expect meet my fans there. The presence of my family gives another dimension to my enthusiasm, which already reached a climax thanks to the numerous fans in the Flemish classics and the performance of Biniam Girmay in Ghent-Wevelgem. Knowing the roads will be a major plus factor for our team, Loïc and I can guide our team on the many small roads and steep climbs where positioning is very important. I feel good and our selection has a good chance on achieving a good result. That's why I probably take responsibility in the peloton from the start of the race. I can already announce with certainty now that it will be a difficult edition, because I noticed the impact of the freezing temperatures and the snow during my training ride this Friday."
