A motivated ORICA-GreenEDGE race at the 100th edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen on Sunday coming straight off the back of a solid block of Belgian racing.

Former Australian champion Luke Durbridge finished in sixth place overall at De Panne on Thursday and the team is hoping to carry some consistency into Sunday’s race. Belgian Jens Kuekeleire will lead the squad in his home classic after finishing in 19th place last year, making the final selection of twenty-five riders from which the winning move was made. 

Sport director Laurenzo Lapage is pleased with how the team has been performing in the run up to Flanders.

“To perform well in a race like the Tour of Flanders the team must anticipate when and where the big moves are likely to happen,” said Lapage. “Only strong riders win this race and 90% of the time the team has to work hard to get their key men into the right positions. This is what we must do if we want to achieve something here.

“We have come through the last races very well here in Belgium. The team is highly motivated and in Jens (Keukeleire) and Luke (Durbridge) we have two riders who have the potential to do well at this kind of race. Of course it also takes some luck but we hope to be up there in the finale.”

The second monument of the season is the focal point of the Flemish cycling week. An iconic race steeped in history, the 255kilometre route starts in Bruges and ends in Oudenaarde. Covering eighteen categorised climbs including the iconic cobblestones of the Koppenberg, Paterberg and the Oude Kwaremont, the ‘Tour of Flanders’ is one of the hardest one-day classics on the calendar.

22-year-old neo-pro Jack Haig, competing in his first monument, is the only addition to the team that’s spent the last two weeks racing together on Belgian soil.

The Ronde van Vlaanderen takes place on Sunday 3rd of April.

ORICA-GreenEDGE at Ronde van Vlaanderen (3rd April):

Sam Bewley (NZ, 28)
Magnus Cort (DEN, 22)
Mitch Docker (AUS, VIC, 29)
Luke Durbridge (AUS, WA, 24)
Jack Haig (AUS, VIC, 22)
Jens Keukeleire (BEL, 27)
Luka Mezgec (SLO, 27)
Svein Tuft (CAN, 38)