The 71st edition of the Omloop van het Houtland takes place on Wednesday in Lichtervelde, Belgium. The one-day race consists of one large loop of 113.1km and eight laps on a relatively flat circuit of 10.8km, for a race total of 199.5km. 

Giant-Alpecin coach Marc Reef said: “We will have to ride an attentive race Wednesday because of the many open sections in the course where the wind could play a role.

“Our aim is to ride a strong finale, as we have several different options. Roy [Curvers] has shown that he is on form, with two good results last week, and he is capable of performing well in the finale.

"Marcel [Kittel] is aiming to end his season in a good way and we have to wait and see how he feels during the race.”

World Championships

The world championships in Richmond, Virginia, continue this week with the individual time trial for elite men on Wednesday. Four riders from Team Giant-Alpecin will ride against the clock, representing the national colors of Germany, the United States, the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively. The 53km course includes long straight roads and technical turns in the last few kilometers, before heading for the false-flat finishing climb of 680m.

The UCI world championships in Richmond, Virginia, close this Sunday with the road race for elite men. All the road races will take place on the same challenging, technical and inner-city road circuit, which covers 16.2km. The elite men will compete for the title of world champion over a race of 261.4km, and the elite women will race 129.8km. 

The team is supplying three riders for the German team and one rider each for the United States, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Austria.

Giant-Alpecin for Omloop Het Houtland

Roy Curvers (NED)
Bert De Backer (BEL)
Cheng Ji (CHN)
Carter Jones (USA)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Zico Waeytens (BEL)
Max Walscheid (GER)

Giant-Alpecin at World TT Championships

Nikias Arndt (GER)
Lawson Craddock (USA)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE) 

Giant-Alpecin at World road race Championships

Lawson Craddock (USA)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Luka Mezgec (SLO)
Georg Preidler (AUT)