Liv Racing will ride the second Belgian UCI Women’s WorldTour classic in a row this Sunday. The team will start in Gent-Wevelgem with Alison Jackson, Lotte Kopecky, Jeanne Korevaar, Evy Kuijpers and the Italians Sofia Bertizzolo and Soraya Paladin.
Soraya Paladin has travelled with full confidence to Belgium, where she will complete three attracting races next week: Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders. Last weekend she showed herself in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and impressively raced to a fifth place. Before that, our Italian finished fourteenth in the Strade Bianche and sixteenth in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
“I am more than satisfied with my start to the season. Personally, I am achieving good results. It is also nice to see that we, as a team, always show our strength. The atmosphere in the group is very good, we try to make every race unforgettable”, she says. “The Trofeo Binda was a fight from start to finish. Each rider made the maximum effort for the team. I was slightly disappointed to miss the podium as I was keen to reward the team’s work. We have to maintain this perfect attitude and fighting spirit.”
Gent-Wevelgem, the classic featuring the Monteberg, Kemmelberg and Baneberg, is for Paladin the beginning of a Belgian triptych. “I am really looking forward to the great Flemish classics, this week is traditionally a highlight of the season. You always have to be on your toes in these classics”, says Paladin. “Gent-Wevelgem is normally music to the ears of the sprinters, so it will be essential to keep Lotte Kopecky and Sofia Bertizzolo in front. In addition, we must of course be attentive to any developments in the race leading to other scenarios.”
Photo credits: Cor Vos