It’s the time of the National Championships. This year the battle for the Belgian road title will take place at the Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure in the southern part of Belgium, known from stages of the Belgium Tour. Lotto Soudal will start with a strong team of seventeen riders.

The organisation has created a course of 15.4 kilometres that the men will cover fifteen times, which means a total distance of 231 kilometres. The Petit Poggio, a hill at five kilometres from the finish, could become decisive. It has an average gradient of 6.4% and peaks up to 11%. The rest of the course isn’t flat at all either, there will be a total of 4140 altitude metres.

Lotto Soudal sports director Herman Frison said: “At the Belgium Tour large groups have already sprinted for the victory at the Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure, but there are several short laps this time with lots of uphill parts. I can’t predict what will happen. It could be that the pack will really fall apart like many people think, but it could be as well that a large group gets to the finish. Like I always say, the riders make the race and if there is one race that is hard to predict, it is the Belgian Championships road race. Last year the right break already took off in the first lap, on a course that was less hard, it all depends on who is represented.

“We start with many riders and have different options. We can make different decisions according to the situation. Our goal is to lead a Lotto Soudal rider to the title, it doesn’t matter which one. There is only one place that counts. Of course other teams will look at us because we have such a large team, but we only focus on ourselves. Gilbert, Van Avermaet and Vanmarcke will be important opponents, just like the Etixx – QuickStep team. But as it turned out last year, it can also be a rider we don’t expect.”

The ‘Lotto’ team conquered the Belgian title for the last time in 2014, when Debusschere won in Wielsbeke. His brother-in-law and teammate Jürgen Roelandts almost succeeded him last year, but got beaten by Preben Van Hecke. Roelandts did win the title in 2008 as neo-pro.

“I will be good on Sunday, I don’t doubt that, but at the Belgian Championships you also need to have some luck," Roelandts said. "Hopefully it ends better for me than last year. That I missed out on the title last year is the biggest disappointment in my career. It doesn’t mean I start this time with a different mind-set than other years though, I never dare to expect anything at the Championships because it is so unpredictable. Of course I would love to conquer a second Belgian title. It’s fantastic to ride in that jersey. In 2009 I got injured and couldn’t race the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix and I would love to race there once with the national jersey. And it would be wonderful to ride the Tour as Belgian champion.

“I always use my intuition when I race, I don’t start with a major plan. Last year I joined a breakaway in the first lap, and such a move was already successful a few times at the Championships. Also Sunday that could be the scenario. It’s a course that suits different types of riders: from climbers to Classics riders. You can compare the course a bit to the Canadian races in Montréal and Québec, but of course it’s so different because it’s a race with only Belgian riders. It’s a fact that the strongest riders will battle for the victory at the end. I am pleased the Championship is organised on this course.”

The Lotto Soudal team: 

Sander Armée, Tiesj Benoot, Kris Boeckmans, Sean De Bie, Jasper De Buyst, Bart De Clercq, Thomas De Gendt, Jens Debusschere, Gert Dockx, Frederik Frison, Maxime Monfort, Jürgen Roelandts, Tosh Van der Sande, Jelle Vanendert, Louis Vervaeke, Jelle Wallays and Tim Wellens.