{"id":508335,"date":"2026-02-27T21:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/508335\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T21:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:33:11","slug":"ive-only-been-to-opening-weekend-once","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/508335\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve only been to Opening Weekend once…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe see that all of the guys are in great shape so we\u2019re targeting a great result this weekend,\u201d NSN Cycling Team<\/a> DS Dimitri Claeys<\/a> said in a press release<\/a>. \u201cOf course, we have Biniam as our main leader, but we also have guys like Riley Sheehan, Lewis Askey, and Hugo Hofstetter on Sunday”.The team is having a modest lineup in comparison to other World Tour lineups who are also bringing their A-game to Belgium, however they have realistic chances of taking a strong result, specially at Kuurne – Bruxelles – Kuurne<\/a> wher the more sprinter-friendly course favours the likes of Girmay and Hugo Hofstetter who was third last year. “Good results come from strong teamwork and we\u2019re confident in the way the guys work together. That\u2019s our main focus and from there, the results will come.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nNSN Cycling Team for Opening WeekendOmloop Het NieuwsbladKuurne – Bruxelles – KuurneLewis AskeyLewis AskeyGuillaume BoivinGuilaume BoivinBiniam GirmayBiniam GirmayMatis LouvelMatis LouvelRyan MullenRyan MullenRiley SheehanRiley SheehanTom van AsbroeckHugo HofstetterEyes on Kuurne for Girmay<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite funny, to be honest \u2013 I\u2019ve raced at a lot of the Classics, but I\u2019ve only been to Opening Weekend once. The year I came, I asked my old team to race, and it was OK, but other times I had a program that included Algarve and different races at this time, and other times I don\u2019t know why I didn\u2019t push the team to race,” Girmay added. “I think that from this year on, for sure, we will come here every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Girmay wants to return to the classics at full speed and take big wins such as his 2022 Gent-Wevelgem triumph which marked a breakthrough in his career. He has on multiple occasions showed his quality on the cobbles; and his ability to resist the climbs will make him a danger man for any sprint that takes place this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a big and clear goal with the team, especially for Sunday [for Kuurne]. It\u2019s going to be tough to win these races, especially on Saturday (Omloop het Nieuwsblad, ed.) with the startlist, but we will try anyway. We have a good team around me, full of strong riders who will stay with me until the last part of the races”.<\/p>\n

Girmay won a stage at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana earlier this month; and then also the Clasica de Almeria, showing the speed required to win in the bunch sprints after a 2025 where he did not raise his arms in triumph once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good, and also my teammates feel good. But this is the first race in Belgium, it\u2019s always pretty hectic, so we\u2019re just trying to find the best team spirit, because these races will help us towards our next big goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe see that all of the guys are in great shape so we\u2019re targeting a great result this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,153763,784,254988,254989,178027,231522,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-508335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-biniam-girmay","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-dimitri-claeys","13":"tag-kuurne-bruxelles-kuurne","14":"tag-nsn-cycling-team","15":"tag-omloop-het-nieuwsblad","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}