Another major name has been added to the start list for this year’s Czech Tour. Belgian WorldTour team Soudal Quick-Step, one of the best-known and most successful outfits in modern road cycling, will line up at the Czech Republic’s leading stage race. Its participation underlines the Czech Tour’s growing prestige as the event steps up to UCI ProSeries level for the first time this year.
Soudal Quick-Step are known to cycling fans around the world as the Wolfpack. Over more than two decades, the Belgian squad have built a reputation for their distinctive identity, aggressive style of racing and remarkable ability to win at the biggest events on the calendar. They have recorded more than a thousand professional victories, including triumphs at the Monument classics, Grand Tours and World Championships.
“The participation of Soudal Quick-Step is fantastic news for the Czech Tour. The Wolfpack are one of the biggest names in professional cycling,” says Czech Tour director Leopold König. “They are a team with a tremendous history, but also one that continues to demonstrate its quality today. Tim Merlier’s three stage victories at this year’s Tour de France speak for themselves. These are exactly the kind of teams we want on the start line, because they raise the sporting level of the race and are also a major attraction for the fans.”
Landa confirmed for Czech Tour
The team will not confirm its final line-up until the week before the Czech Tour, but cycling fans can already look forward to seeing Spanish star Mikel Landa. A three-time Giro d’Italia stage winner and former winner of the race’s mountains classification, Landa also has a Vuelta a España stage victory to his name and previously served as one of Chris Froome’s key mountain lieutenants at Team Sky. Even at the age of 36, he is certain to be one of the most compelling riders to watch in this year’s Czech Tour peloton.
Soudal Quick-Step underlined their current strength at this year’s Tour de France, where Tim Merlier claimed three stage victories. The team also extended an exceptional run, having won at least one stage of the Grande Boucle every year since 2013.
The Belgian squad can field a line-up capable of shaping the race across a wide variety of terrain. This year’s route will offer opportunities for sprinters, classics specialists and climbers, with the battle for the general classification set to intensify from the second stage onwards. The remaining riders who will represent Soudal Quick-Step at the Czech Tour will be announced at a later date.
The Czech Tour will take place from 13 to 16 August. The opening stage will take the peloton from Prague’s Vítězné náměstí to Karlovy Vary. Stage two will run from Mladá Boleslav to Ještěd, the third stage will link Pardubice with Dlouhé stráně, while the final day will take the riders from Kroměříž to Pustevny. Across four stages through Bohemia and Moravia, the race will feature three demanding summit finishes. Over the four days, the riders will cover almost 650 kilometres and climb close to 10,000 vertical metres.
Photo: soudal-quickstepteam.com
