The 55th De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne will take place tomorrow, April 15. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will line-up for this UCI 1.HC Belgian classic for the 3rd time after making its debut back in 2013 already.
The Brabanste Pijl is somewhat of a transitional classic as the race is seen as the bridge between the cobbled classics and the Ardennes classics. Some of the cobbled specialists look to carry their form into Brabantse from Flanders and Roubaix while the punchers and other climbers who are hoping to excel at races like Amstel Gold and Liege-Bastogne-Liege look to Brabantse as their first classics outing.
MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will have a slight mixture of the two specialists as well for tomorrow's rendezvous. With the race suited to a rider with an explosive climbing prowess as well as a fair kick for the line, Kristian Sbaragli and Youcef Reguigui become the leading candidates for the race. Both riders will look to be competitive in the finale that has always seen a very small selection of riders in years gone by.
Supporting Sbaragli and Reguigui on the day will be Daniel Teklehaimanot, Natnael Berhane, Songezo Jim, Nic Dougall, Jay Thomson and Serge Pauwels. 26 Hellingen and 205km is what await the riders tomorrow and the African team will have an eye on the podium for sure.
"I did the race with the team 2 years ago so I know what it is like. The most important part comes during those final 3 laps on the circuit. There are 5 climbs on the circuit and the pace is always high and this is where the race should be decided. We will try to see what we can do here, Kris and Youcef are our fast guys for this race so we will try to take our opportunities," Jim said.
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