Leopard to race at Elfstedenronde and European Games

Busy times for Leopard Pro Cycling. Tomorrow, one part of the team takes on the Elfstedenronde Bruges, whilst four other riders are on the other side of Europe, racing the European Games with their national teams.

It's the third edition of the Elfstedenronde, since being relaunched in 2017. The race starts on the famous market place in Bruges for almost 200 kilometers of racing through the West-Vlaanderen province. After the start, the riders will first take on a big lap, guiding the race through well-known cycling cities such as Roeselare, Handzame and Hooglede. Before arriving in Bruges again, the race already passed eight cobbled sections. From Bruges, their are still four local laps to ride with three cobblestone sectors in it. The last sector is situated only 1400 meters from the finish line. In the two previous editions, Wout Van Aert and Adam Blythe took the win and Alexander Krieger finished respectively fourth and sixth. This year, Alexander Krieger is not there, as he rides the European Games for Germany. However, the Leopard Pro Cycling team has different cards to play with for example the fast legs of Gessner and Spengler, but also the experience of Pons and Schlechter.

Bas van Belle: "Until now, the season has not been great, but also not been too bad. I still try to improve every single day and I hope to have a good performance at the Elfstedenronde, my first UCI 1.1 race. I will do my very best for the team. We have a good mix of experience and young guys at the start and everyone has their own qualities to use in this race. My goal is to learn a lot in a big race like this one. After this race, I head towards the nationals and hopefully a succesfull second part of the season."

European Championships
Whilst Leopard Pro Cycling is active at the Elfstedenronde Bruges, four riders are representing their country at the European Games. Alexander Krieger (Germany), Colin Heiderscheid, Misch Leyder and Pit Leyder (all Luxembourg) are selected by their federations to take part in the race. The second edition of the Games are hosted in Minsk, the capital and largest city of Belarus. 37 European nations are sending riders to the road race which is 180 kilometers long, divided in twelve rather flat circuits. The Games are hosted once every four years and were won in 2015 by Luis León Sánchez.

Elfstedenronde (UCI 1.1)
23.06 | Bruges-Bruges | 198,9 km

European Games
23.06 | Minsk-Minsk | 180 km