For the first time in its history, Circus-Wanty Gobert-Tormans will be at the start of the Italian classics. The reshuffled calendar bundles the five races of RSC between August 1st and 15th, with Strade Bianche as the opening race, followed by Milan-Torino, Milan-San Remo, Gran Piemonte and the Tour of Lombardy. The Belgian team will discover these mythic transalpine races with a lot of motivation for the competition restart.
Thanks to its status of second Pro Team at the UCI ranking, Circus-Wanty Gobert-Tormans benefited from an automatic invite for the World Tour races. Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Lombardy were already on the initial programme, and the Italian race organizer also assigned invitations for both semi classics Milan-Torino and the Tour of Piemont. This last race figures on Jan Bakelant’s palmares since 2015.
Hilaire Van der Schueren (sports director):
« Thanks to our participation in these Italian races, we can offer our riders a very nice race programme in August. It will be a busy beginning after a long break, but the yellow-blue brigade is very motivated to race a lot. Our programme for the upcoming months is finished, so during the two training camps we can fine-tune our selections and work towards our first big appointment on the 1st of August! »
Jean-François Bourlart (general manager):
« I’m very happy with these invitations. I want to thank RCS for its confidence in our project and for the discovery of the Italian classics. These events are mythic, and will bring a special atmosphere as they open the international calendar post-Covid 19. I’m convinced that our riders will be able to surpass their capabilities in each of these races, from the Strade Bianche to the Tour of Lombardy, and show that we’re worth being at those classics. »
The Italian programme:
1/08: Strade Bianche
5/08: Milan-Torino
8/08: Milan – San Remo
12/08: Gran Piemonte
15/08: Il Lombardia
