Following a successful Tour de France, NetApp-Endura returns to one-day racing when they line up in the Druivenkoers Overijse tomorrow. The race kicks off a series of autumn classics in Belgium for the German team.

This Wednesday, the NetApp-Endura team starts its Belgian fall program at the Druivenkoers in Overijse. The 54th annual Druivenkoers race, a hilly 121-mile route through the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, is the first of the teams’ seven events in Belgium.

“If you look at the results and the performance of the NetApp-Endura team over the last few weeks, you see that the entire team has taken another step forward since the Tour de France and Qinghai Lake. Now we just have to work on the fine-tuning to transform these great results into even more wins,” says Sport Director Christian Pömer, on his strategy for the upcoming races.

Though the Druivenkoers Overijse takes place in Flanders, the 121-mile “grape race” (Druivenkoers) is more of an Ardennes classic than a typical Flemish race. This is because of the many short yet steep ascents through the Druivenstreek – Belgium’s grape-producing region. Seven different hills have to be climbed repeatedly along the three large and eight small circuits around Overijse. While the elevation profile would seem to divide the riders into smaller groups, last year nearly 70 riders sprinted together to the finish line behind the leading trio

Line-up:

Cesare Benedetti, Ralf Matzka, Jonathan McEvoy, Frantisek Padour, Erick Rowsell, Daniel Schorn, Alexander Krieger