On the coming Saturday Team NetApp will compete once again at the oldest classic one-day-race, Paris-Brussels. The race celebrated its first edition in 1893, at that time the course had led over 400 gruelling kilometers. Today the  distance has been reduced to 216 kilometers, and leads from Soissons (85 kilometers north of Paris) to Brussels.

"Paris-Brussels is a highly regarded race, one of the most famous autumn classics. And besides, the course is really beautiful. Looking back to our debut last year we weren’t that lucky. A lot of crashes and defects made the race quite difficult for us. We just wait and see what this year’s race holds ready for us“, comments Enrico Poitschke.

Seven Hellingen have to be crossed on the course from Soissons to Brussels. The hilly profile as well as the wind will make the race fast and many attacks will split the field.

"But the climbs won't be decisive for the outcome of the race", knows Poitschke, "it is a course for sprinters. In the past,large groups prevailed most of the time or there had been bunchsprints. This year's line-up is top-notch, but we are going to ride at our maximum and are desperate to guarantee ourselves a good result." 

Line-Up:
Jerome Baugnies, Andreas Dietziker, Markus Eichler, Reto Hollenstein, Matthias Brändle, Andeas Schillinger, Andre Schulze, Michael Schwarzmann 

Website of the race