Quick-Step Floors meet the press ahead of Belgian opening weekend - Gallery

By published

Classics squad ready to take on Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

Image 1 of 22
Philippe Gilbert hands off to Fernando Gaviria as Iljo Keisse looks on(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

On Saturday, February 24 and Sunday 25, Cyclingnews will have full live coverage of the men’s races at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, from start to finish, here.

Quick-Step Floors used the occasion of the team's press conference preceding Belgium's 'opening weekend' to announce the team's latest initiative: the grand opening of the Quick-Step Pop-Up Store in the Ring Shopping Centre in Kortrijk, about two hours southwest of Gent.

With just Dries Devenyns missing, the riders who will take on Omloop and its revised finish - Fernando Gaviria, Philippe Gilbert, Iljo Keisse, Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar and Niki Terpstra - assumed their spots centre stage with director Tom Steels and manager Patrick Lefevere, taking questions from the assembled media before breaking off for one-on-one interviews. 

Gilbert, who could tie with Ernest Sterckx ('52, '53, '56), Joseph Bruyère ('74, '75, '80) and Peter Van Petegem ('97, '98, '02) as a three-time winner if he were to take victory on Saturday, was highly sought after, as was Fernando Gaviria, the 23-year-old Colombian sprinter who will be making his first starts in both Omloop Het Neiuwsblad on Saturday and in Sunday's Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

Click or swipe through the gallery for a glimpse of the team's press meeting.