On Friday, Team Stölting Service Group will take to the start of Dwars door het Hageland - Aarschot (1.1) in Belgium.

Held as a pro race for the first time, the 194.1 km Dwars door het Hageland - Aarschot resembles a spring classic: It covers eleven short climbs, some of them cobbled, several flat cobblestone sections and, more significantly, a number of gravel sections that are concentrated in the final. A total distance of 20.75 km is not tarmacked, including 10 km of gravel and cobblestone sections in the final 30 km of the race.

Team Stölting Service Group sends a young team to Belgium: Alex Kirsch (LUX) will be the team leader; like Michael Carbel (DEN) and Thomas Koep (GER), Kirsch raced the Tour of Denmark last week. They are joined by Sven Reutter (GER) and Jonas Tenbrock (GER) and the team's three stagiaires Moritz Backofen (GER), Alexander Weifenbach (GER) and Willi Willwohl (GER).

Sports Director Gregor Willwohl (GER) is looking forward to the race: “This could become a real classic in time, with cobbles and gravel sections. In a race like this, our stagiaires can show how well they deal with a hectic and nervous race. Our leader is Alex Kirsch, he's shown in the spring campaign that he likes these races and has the potential to do well. And I could see at the Tour of Denmark that he's in form and is capable of racing for a result.”