Biniam Girmay has Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne circled slightly more than Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The 25-year-old has already won in Valencia and Almería this year. Despite having plenty of experience in the Classics, it will only be the second time he has raced both Omloop and Kuurne. “It’s quite funny, to be honest – I’ve raced at a lot of the Classics, but I’ve only been to Opening Weekend once,” he explained in a team preview. “The year I came, I asked my old team to race… I think that from this year on, for sure, we will come here every year.”

With limited Opening Weekend mileage, the recon was extra important. “It was good to remind ourselves of the parcours, but these races are always left, right, and small roads,” Girmay said after riding the routes. “But it’s super helpful to have people like Tom and Guillaume, who are experienced in these races, with me.”

Girmay is looking at Sunday as the key objective. “We have a big and clear goal with the team, especially for Sunday,” he added. “It’s going to be tough to win these races, especially on Saturday with the startlist, but we will try anyway. We have a good team around me, full of strong riders who will stay with me until the last part of the races.”

“I feel good, and also my teammates feel good,” Girmay continued. “But this is the first race in Belgium, it’s always pretty hectic, so we’re just trying to find the best team spirit, because these races will help us towards our next big goals.”

Sports director Dimitri Claeys (who worked with Girmay previously at Intermarché–Wanty) echoed that confidence: “We see that all of the guys are in great shape so we’re targeting a great result this weekend. Of course, we have Biniam as our main leader, but we also have guys like Riley Sheehan, Lewis Askey, and Hugo Hofstetter on Sunday.”

Lewis Askey
Guillaume Boivin
Biniam Girmay
Matîs Louvel
Ryan Mullen
Riley Sheehan
Tom Van Asbroeck (only Omloop)
Hugo Hofstetter (Kuurne only)