Team IAM has received two important wildcard invitations to the Belgian Ardennes races. The new Swiss-based team announced this week that it will ride the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will be held on Saturday, February 23, is the opener of the Belgian season. The team called their participation “a great opportunity for the team to align its specialists this season.”
The next day the team will take on Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which “promises moments of beautiful cycling on a route that may encourage more sprinters ... Ours will be there!”
The Professional Continental team can look to Australian Heinrich Haussler in the races. He finished second in the Omloop in 2010 and was just off the podium in fourth place this year.
IAM will open its season on February 5 in the Tour of Qatar, to be followed by the Tour of Oman. Its European debut will be on February 6 at the Tour of the Mediterranean.