The Belkin Pro Cycling Team hopes to show well again in the final World Tour race of 2014, the Tour of Beijing. Sports Director Nico Verhoeven will aim for a stage win and a strong overall with Steven Kruijswijk and Paul Martens.

“We travelled to China with a good sprint train,” said Verhoeven. “A stage win is our goal. We also want to do well in the overall. There is a tough uphill finish where I’ll be thinking about Steven and Paul. As always, we have to wait and see what type of form the riders are in at the end of the season.”

Sprinter Moreno Hofland returned to China this week. Last year, as a neo-professional, he was extremely successful and enjoyed a breakthrough in Asia. In the final stage of the Tour of Beijing, the Dutchman finished on the podium, in third place, for the first time in a WorldTour race and went on to the Tour of Hainan, where he recorded his first victories as a pro.

“China suits me apparently,” Hofland said to the Belkin website.. ”It’s nice to be back. Hopefully, I can get in the mix for stage victories in Beijing. If you are motivated at the end of the season, there’s still a lot you can accomplish.

“I still want to race. My morale is high and physically I feel fine. Because of bad luck, I haven’t raced a lot this season. I was side-lined for quite a while after my crash in the Tour of California, during the Tour of Utah I suffered an infection and I was forced to abandon the Vuelta a España after nine days due to sickness. I’m excited to race again!”

Belkin Team line-up:

Dennis van Winden, Graeme Brown, Moreno Hofland, Steven Kruijswijk, Tom Leezer, Nick van der Lijke, Barry Markus and Paul Martens.