Following his successful performance in the Tour de Picardie where he finished on the podium in all three stages and took second overall, Ramon Sinkeldam will lead Giant-Shimano in the two-day World Ports Classic in the weekend. The race is usually dominated by strong winds and suits the sprinters and Giant-Shimano will line up a strong team for that kind of racing.

Ramon Sinkeldam starts the two-day race following a strong showing at the Tour de Picardie in France where he showed how much his sprinting ability has developed, taking three podium spots and finished second overall.

He is joined by Thierry Hupond who took his first professional victory at last week's 4 Jours de Dunkerque - a nice reward for years of hard work on the team, at a race where Nikias Arndt also performed well in, taking second on the stage behind Hupond, and Arndt also starts this Dutch race.

Team Giant-Shimano coach, Rudi Kemna said: "We will be looking for a strong team race here at the World Ports Classic and we have several sprinters here who can get good results at this race.

"The weekend presents two nice stages where crosswinds usually play a factor and for this reason riding as a unit is important. With Jonas, Nikias and Ramon we will work for results on the stages and see how we sit overall after day one."

Jonas Ahlstrand (SWE)
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Brian Bulgac (NED)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Thierry Hupond (FRA)
Cheng Ji (CHN)
Sea Keong Loh (MAL)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)