This Sunday, Team Giant-Alpecin will participate in the German classic Rund um Köln. Covering 196.7km with 11 classified climbs and 2,336m of altitude gain, the race is not guaranteed to end in a bunch sprint. 

The team can look back at some strong results in recent editions of the race, with a third and fourth by Georg Preidler (AUT) and Warren Barguil (FRA), respectively, in 2013; a fifth by Tom Dumoulin (NED) in 2012; and a second by Marcel Kittel (GER) in 2011.

Team Giant-Alpecin will be heading to this year’s race with ambitions for victory with its sprinters Zico Waeytens (BEL) and Kittel. In a supporting role the team brings Bert De Backer (BEL), who is returning to racing after completing the Giro d’Italia and a strong spring season, and Lars van der Haar (NED), who took second place on the third stage of last week’s Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg. The first Chinese rider ever to complete all three Grand Tours, Cheng Ji, will line up too, alongside Fredrik Ludvigsson (SWE) and Tom Stamsnijder (NED). The participation of Tom Veelers (NED) is in doubt, as he suffered a return of his knee injury and the team does not yet know whether he will recover in time. 

“Our goal is to try to win the race. It can be a hard race, depending on the conditions, and we should be prepared for anything. With Waeytens and Kittel we have two fast guys and a good chance if the race ends in a sprint, but in case of a hard race we will also have options with De Backer and van der Haar. We have a good mix of talent and experience, as De Backer will be our captain,” said coach Aike Visbeek.