Belgian teams cancel Het Volk scouting

Next Saturday, February 25, the Omloop Het Volk marks the start of the Belgian cycling season. Because of the bad weather in the country, the two Belgian ProTour teams Davitamon and Quick.Step have cancelled their traditional scouting of the parcours which was planned for Tuesday.

"We don't want to take any unnecessary risks," said Quick.Step team director Wilfried Peeters on Sporza.be. "The risk that riders get sick after riding in this wet, icy weather i too great. We want to avoid that at all cost," agreed Herman Frison of the Davitamon team. "It's only a scouting; most of the guys know the parcours anyway," Frison added.

Belgian Continental Pro team Chocolade Jacques is not going to let the bad weather ruin its plans. "It's OK for it to be cold, but it has to be dry," team manager Roger Swerts explained. "It's good to know the parcours better than our rivals!"

Unibet.com will ride part of the parcours if possible. "If the weather allows it, we'll scout the hardest part of the parcours on Wednesday. If it's bad, than we'll limit the reconnaissance to the hilly part," said manager Hilaire Van der Schueren. "I'll pick my eight men from a selection of fifteen on Wednesday. Gardeyn, Cooke and Vandenbroucke were definite starters, but just now, they have symptoms of illness."

Courtesy of Sabine Sunderland