The Grimpeur Jelle Vanendert makes season debut tomorrow.

From Sunday to Wednesday the annual Challenge Mallorca will take place, it consists of four successive one day races, in which riders who finish each day can battle for the GC. For Sander Cordeel (back after an injury), Dennis Vanendert and Jelle Vanendert it will be their first competition kilometres. Joost Van Leijen is ill and has to pull out.

“As a cyclist you always look forward to your first race of the season. Usually the circumstances in Mallorca are good, so that seems to me the ideal place to start my cycling year”, said Jelle Vanendert.

“My winter has been really good. When the season ends, I put the bike aside for one month, and afterwards I start to build up. I haven’t been ill and was able to train well the whole time. Those two weeks of bad weather didn’t bother me, I rode on the cross bicycle and trained some more on the rolls”.

“I think I will ride all stages in Mallorca. I don’t have any concrete goals; it’s mainly about seeing how the shape is at the moment and getting in the competition rhythm. I choose to start the season in February because I can have a longer winter and because my first  peak is later than for most of the riders”.

“After Mallorca the Ruta del Sol is on my programme, which perfectly matches this four days. There it might be possible to pick out a stage or keep more of an eye on the GC. At the beginning of March the Tirreno-Adriatico follows, and after that I go training for two weeks in the Sierra Nevada. Then I will ride the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco where I will finalize my preparation for the Ardennes classics”, the Belgian said.

Lotto Belisol line-up at the Mallorca Challenge
Gaetan Bille
Sander Cordeel
Kenny Dehaes
Bart De Clercq
Vicente Reynes
Jurgen Van Den Broeck
Dennis Vanendert
Jelle Vanendert.