Human Powered Health signed eight riders in September to bolster its men’s ProTeam roster, including WorldTour talents Gijs Van Hoecke from AG2R Citroën Team and Barnabás Peák of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux.
The duo will be critical for one-day races and serve to support new sprinters Sasha Weemaes, who moves from Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise, Stanisław Aniołkowski, most recently with Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB, and Alan Banaszek, who joins from HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski team. The team added Norwegian Embret Svestad-Bårdseng of Team Coop and a pair of Canadians, Benjamin Perry, who raced in 2021 with Astana-Premier Tech, and Charles-Étienne Chrétien, who races with HPH this past year as a stagiaire.
“I’m here to put the train on the rails,” Van Hoecke said in a team statement. “I have experience in the sprint train having worked with Dylan Groenewegen in the past so this is what I love to do.
"The sprint train will be the most important thing, but on Human Powered Health I will get a chance to ride for myself in the other races and this is what I like about this team. Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Le Samyn and Nokere Koerse are the races I really like and those are the ones where I really want to show what I'm capable of, but also guide the young guys in those races."
The 30-year-old Belgian begins his 12th pro season next year, half of that time with three WorldTour teams. In the last two years at AG2R Citroën, he trained and provided the lead out for 2016 road Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet. Van Hoecke himself is a 2012 Olympian from the track and at UCI Track World Championships that year won a gold medal in the Madison.
"It's not easy if you don't come from Flanders and you have to learn it all by yourself, so I think I can help the young guys," Van Hoecke explained. "It's like we are born with it, there are races that go past every town you live. In other countries you have football, but in Belgium you have cycling. You live with it."
Peák, just 23 years old, made his Grand Tour debut at the 2022 Giro d'Italia to support top 10 finishes for Intermarché teammates Jan Hirt and Domenico Pozzovivo. Weemaes, 24, races the past four and half seasons with the Spot Vlaanderen programme, highlighted with a trio of top fives at the Tour de Hongrie and a pair of podiums in one-day races, Trofeo Playa de Palma and Dorpenomloop Ruchpen. Banaszek is currently racing against the HPH squad at CRO Race and earlier in the year overall victory in The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorns Cup Tour of Thailand.
Perry was fourth on GC at the Tour of Britain this year riding for a British Continental team, WIV SunGod. Compatriot Chrétien, just 23, raced a full schedule with HPH this past year and secured ninth overall at the Tour de Normandie.
Four of the new signings, Aniołkowski, Weemaes, Chrétien and Svestad-Bårdseng were confirmed for two-year deals through 2024.
Barnes bolsters women’s WorldTour roster
British all-rounder Alice Barnes signed a two-year contract with Human Powered Health for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. A double national champion for Great Britain on the road and time trial in 2019, she moves from Canyon-SRAM Racing, where she has performed for the last five seasons.
This year, the 27-year-old won the points classification at the EasyToys Bloeizone Fryslân Tour and had four top-10 finishes in one-day races, including sixth at Ronde van Drenthe and eighth at Brugge-De Panne, both on the Women’s WorldTour.
“I feel I have learnt a lot over the last five years and throughout my racing career so far,” Barnes said.
“I am really looking forward to new challenges with Human Powered Health. I like the steps that the program has been making the last few years and feel it is a nice place for me to be able to continue developing, not only myself but to also help others to make the step up.”
The Briton started racing mountain bikes as a youngster and turned professional on the road in 2016.
Joining her on the squad in 2023 will be Daria Pikulik, a 25-year-old Polish sprinter from ATOM Deweloper Posciellux.pl Wrocław.
A road sprinter with a track background, Pikulik won the Districtenpijl – Ekeren-Deurne this year and had four top-five finishes at the Baloise Ladies Tour.
