After a short break, Tony Martin will return to competition when he lines up as defending champion in the Tour of Belgium today. As winner of the two latest editions, the German can make history if he makes it three in a row and he feels ready for the challenge.

OPQS has announced the selection for Baloise Belgium Tour, a five-stage, 732.6km race from May 28th until June 1st. Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Tony Martin — winner of two overall classifications in a row at the race — is among the riders selected. Should he win again in 2014, he would be the first in the history of the race to win three overall classifications in a row.

"As usual it will be a good parcours with the classic stages of the Belgium Tour," Sport Director Wilfried Peeters said. "The first two stages will be for the sprint, so for a fast rider like Tom Boonen who is ready to do the sprint. Then on Friday we have the time trial, with Tony Martin the defending champion who can do well. Niki Terpstra is another rider who can do well in that stage. Both can show their skills in this parcours of 16.7 kilometers.

"Then, on Saturday and Sunday, there will be the harder and two most important stages. The two parcours are always up and down, but we have a team that can also do well with that situation. We can be present in all the stages, and we have a team with the possibility to do something good each day."

"After Tour de Romandie I was a little bit tired," Martin said. "But I had a nice recovery and now I am good. I trained well, so I am ready. I am the defending champion, so it is also an important race for me as well as the team since we are Belgian based. It's important to be there.

"I checked the parcours online and I think it's nice. I'm curious to see also the road book when I am in Belgium. It's a parcours that suits my skills. I like the short and steep climbs that are perfect for me, so I am confident. It would be a dream to win again for the third straight time, a kind of a small record that I would love to add to my palmares."

Omega Pharma-Quick Step for the Tour of Belgium

Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra, Tom Boonen, Gert Steegmans, Stijn Vandenbergh, Andrew Fenn, Gianni Meersman and Jan Bakelants