The Belgian Cycling Federation has annonced the list of five riders who will represent the country in the road race at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) will lead the selection. They will be joined by Laurens De Plus (Etixx-QuickStep), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal).

"The Olympics are one of my goals this season. I’m doing all I can to start with the best possible condition," said Wellens. "The coach has given us a lot of info about the course. Louis Vervaeke, who took part in the test event last year, also shared his experiences. Everyone says it’s really hard. It’s good that the road race is scheduled first, because that’s my main goal, but I am definitely motivated for the time trial. I will do my best in the time trial."

The Olympic road race takes place on August 6 in Rio de Janeiro, with the individual time trial following on August 10.