Dutch champion assumes leading role while Boonen prepares for April classics.

Earlier this season Dutch champion Niki Terpstra displayed his fine form with some impressive shifts in the service of Mark Cavendish at the Tour of Qatar. As a result, Terpstra will be granted the opportunity to seek his own fortunes as captain of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.

Even though Tom Boonen is included in the Omega Pharma-Quick Step line-up, the Belgian ace is very short of racing miles after an elbow contagion saw him make a delayed beginning to the season, and sports director Wilfried Peeters made it clear that Terpstra and Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel would head the Omega Pharma-Quick Step campaign.

“It’s giving other riders a chance to show what they can do,” Peeters said in an interview with Belgian newspaper and race organizer Het Nieuwsblad. “Niki Terpstra will have a free role, and with Sylvain Chavanel there too, we will certainly have a team that should be able to get a result at Omloop.”

Peeters went on to identify Lars Boom (Blanco), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Jürgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol) as the most dangerous rivals for Saturday’s event, and outlined a straightforward Omega Pharma-Quick Step approach – “Just get as many riders as possible in the final.”

As for Boonen’s chances, Peeters repeated what the rider himself told reporters on his return from Oman at the weekend, asserting that “riding is a victory in itself, but he may be able to help his teammates.”