Belgian team off to Spain once more for warm weather training
The Quick Step team will be returning to Calpe, on the east coast of Spain next week for its second training camp in the build up for the 2011 season. The Belgian team previously spent time in the coastal resort in mid-December but now returns for even more intense workouts.
“The first training camp,” explained sporting director Wilfried Peeters, “was mainly about restarting activity and allowing the team’s new comers to get to know the other members of the group and also for the riders to get hands on experience of the new technical equipment.
“In this second phase the athletes will be making the most of the higher temperatures in Spain,” he continued, “to undergo long and intense training sessions with specific work aimed at preparing them for the first competitions of the season”.
The team will be in Spain between January 10th and 20th, before returning to Belgium for its official presentation in Kortrijk on January 21st.
With the team’s season beginning with the year’s first World Tour race, the Tour Down Under, on January 16th to 23rd, the riders concerned will travel to Australia on the 9th along with sports director Rik Van Slycke. Francesco Chicchi, Marco Bandiera, Gerald Ciolek, Addy Engels, Davide Malacarne, Francesco Reda and Julien Vermote will therefore not be present at the training camp in Spain or the team presentation in Belgium.