Our Squad for Classic Brugge-De Panne

CANYON//SRAM Racing will start Exterioo Classic Brugge โ€“ De Panne on Thursday 24 March with a five-rider roster of Alice Barnes, Shari Bossuyt, Tiffany Cromwell, Ella Harris and Pauliena Rooijakkers.

The 171.6km World Tour race covers a grand total of 324m of elevation but the race is not known for its elevation, cobblestone sectors or really even the narrow roads. Instead, itโ€™s the wind that can cause havoc in the peloton.

Aside from a small change to a 15km section in the first hour of racing, the course remains unchanged from last year. However, the detour may be impactful depending on the wind direction in Thursdayโ€™s race.

โ€œDe Panne is always a hard one to predict on how itโ€™s going to turn out. Usually, the weather is a defining factor as to if itโ€™s a sprint, a reduced group or a solo scenario,โ€ describes Tiffany.

โ€œBeing such a long race it also rewards the brave riders who still have something in their legs left during the final circuits. Someone who takes a chance whilst others are trying to prepare for the sprint.โ€

โ€œConditions look pretty good on the weather forecast, with not a lot of wind. But if it does pick up, the current direction has us dealing with crosswinds most of the day. I have a feeling itโ€™s going to be a bunch sprint though, given the weather conditions predicted. Itโ€™ll still be an aggressive race, but with very few chances for the sprinters to shine in the classics, plenty will be eager for a bunch sprint.โ€

Tiffany herself sprinted to ninth place in the 2018 edition and will have only her second race of the season, which she says can be an advantage.

โ€œIt feels kind of strange, to be honest, to have only had one race so far this season. Iโ€™ve still been doing a lot of training with good intensity, and come to the key classics races Iโ€™m targeting it should be a benefit. Iโ€™ll still be fresh mentally and motivated to be racing. By the time you get to Flanders some years, youโ€™re often fighting to hold onto your race form after weeks of back to back racing.โ€

Teammate Alice Barnes has sprinted twice to a top ten finish in this race while Shari Bossuyt has shone brightly in every race so far this season. Theyโ€™ll be supported by Ella Harris and Pauliena Rooijakkers after both had strong performances at last weekโ€™s Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Italy. Initially, in the teamโ€™s roster, Lisa Klein is forced to miss Thursdayโ€™s race after undergoing surgery for a broken finger suffered during a crash at Danilith Nokere Koerse last week, while Chloรฉ Dygert is recovering from Epstein-Barr virus.

Source

Mathew Mitchell
Mathew Mitchellhttp://procyclinguk.com
My name is Mathew Mitchell, 30-something from Staffordshire, UK. Over the last few years, I've got more and more into cycling, from the first innocent Sportive events to Audaxes, Go-Races, British Cycling racing, Time Trials and now Cyclocross.

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