Team News – Etixx – Quick-Step Hopes for 2015

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“The key to a lot of victories is to like winning” says Etixx – Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere when talking about the 2015 Season

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Team News – Etixx – Quick-Step Hopes for 2015

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Etixx – Quick-Step met the press yesterday where the stars of the team were in demand from the World’s press. One of the World’s most prolific winning teams, the boss of the team Patrick Lefevere explained “The day you wake up and you don’t feel the stress to win, it is better you stop”.

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Photo: © Etixx – Quick-Step / Tim de Waele

“If that day comes with me I’ll stop immediately. But I’m not there yet. We thought two years ago that 62 victories would be impossible to beat as a number. We did it last year. I’m not going to say that we can’t beat the 2014 number this year, but what I really like is the quality of the victories.

One of the team’s Superstars, perhaps THE superstar, is Britain’s Mark Cavendish. One of the best sprinters in the history of the sport, Mark told the press “We’ve got big aims, we’re the team that won the most last year and Etixx – Quick-Step wants to do the same this year.”

Cavendish_otherCavendish said his big goal for 2015 is Le Tour de France. He was forced to withdraw from the 2014 edition after a crash on Stage 1, a stage that meant so much for him to win. “The Tour de France is my biggest goal, it is every year and 2015 is no exception” Cavendish said.

“I’d like to go and crush this year and be able to be successful with Etixx – Quick-Step, as they were last year. I’d be super proud of that.” He also explained that he’d like to win Milan-San again adding that because its a Monument in the sport, doing that will not be easy.”

With a course reverting back to being very similair to what it was before the organisers had a play with it, it both suits Cavendish and the riders who have enough left in the tank to attack on the Poggio with the finish only a few kilometres away. Cav though admits he likes the course and that going for the win will be high on his list of priorities.

A lot of the talk, especially from the British press, revolved around his hopes for racing the track at the Olympics in Rio. Talking to the BBC, ‘Cav’ believes it will be almost impossible to fulfil his obligations to his road team, Etixx – Quick-Step, and ride enough World Cup track events to qualify for Rio.

“It’s not 100% I’m not doing the Olympics, but it’s difficult,” he said. “It probably won’t happen, if I’m honest. I’ve got a road job. The (course for the) road race doesn’t suit me,” Cavendish told BBC Sport. “The time trial, well, I’m not a time triallist. And as for the track, the UCI has segregated track and road cycling completely”.

“So you have to do what Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing and quit road cycling to be able to qualify for it. It’s killing track cycling, because you never get the road stars doing track anymore. Track cycling is going to die, particularly on the endurance side. As a British athlete, I want to do the Olympics but it’s hard”.

“I can’t do it on the road, can’t do it in the time trial and on the track there’s just no way to qualify without quitting the road.” Cavendish’s season opens in Argentina on 19 January at the Tour de San Luis.

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Cavendish and Tom Boonen turn the pedals over for the press. Photo: © Etixx – Quick-Step / Tim de Waele

Tom Boonen
Another of the team’s superstars, especially in his home country of Belgium, Tom Boonen, explained “I think for the moment everything is going well,” Boonen said about training. “I started my preparation early. I took a two week break straight away after the World Championships, and then I began training again and until now I am happy with how things are going. I haven’t been sick once all winter, which is excellent”.

“I think I had to skip maybe three or four trainings due to weather, even when in Belgium. It was always possible to do something. So, now the last four weeks until the start of the season is here. It’s time to start adding intensity. But for sure, if I had to leave for a race tomorrow I could do it. The only thing I need this year is a little more luck in 2015. I hope to go for good results early in the season and keep winning up until April.”

Boonen said the Cobbled Classics will be his big target for the 2015 season, as they are every year. “Of course Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix have been the main goal since 2012,” Boonen said. “It’s the same plan as it always is. Just go maximum into those races and do my best to win.”

Tony Martin, three-time UCI World TT Champion and the rider who had one of the best wins of 2014 with a solo road victory at Le Tour, said his goals span throughout the season. “I would like to do well in the spring stage races, such as Paris-Nice, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, and Tour de Romandie,” Martin said. “I’d like to go for the GC like I did at Tour de Suisse in 2014. Then of course the big goal is the prologue of the Tour de France, to win and hopefully take the Yellow Jersey. Then, at the end, I’d like to take back the UCI World Title in the Time Trial and help the team fight for another UCI World Team Time Trial Championship.”

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Tony Martin & Michal Kwiatkowski, Photo: © Etixx – Quick-Step / Tim de Waele

World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski, 2014 UCI World Road Champion, was swarmed by the media and he was asked about his palmares, as well as what he wants to accomplish as a still blossoming young rider in 2015. “We are here in Spain for our second training camp for Etixx – Quick-Step, and it’s really important to be here with all my teammates building a big base of kilometers before the start of the 2015 season,” Kwiatkowski said.

“I’m looking forward to racing with the Rainbow Jersey, starting with Tour de San Luis. As of now, things are going well. I’m healthy and trying to get stronger day-by-day. I’m looking forward to the upcoming races. I will say that this year, the early races will be more of a focus on preparation with my condition. I will try and focus on just getting in better condition in anticipation of the Ardennes Classics, which is the objective of the first part of the year”.

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Michal Kwiatkowski, Photo: © Etixx – Quick-Step / Tim de Waele

“I hope I will be able to do something better than last year. I just love racing there and hope that can be a successful first part of my season.”

Finally, Paris Roubaix winner Niki Terpstra was one of the last of the team to arrive in Calpe, as he just won Six Days of Rotterdam with Etixx – Quick-Step rider Iljo Keisse the day before. “First of all I am happy about yesterday’s victory,” Terpstra said. “It was nice and at the end it was also a good way to speed up the legs, and it is also nice to have a goal accomplished already”.

“Now I have developed some race speed. I have already a good feeling and I hope to keep this feeling until the Classics period of the season. I signed for three years because the cooperation is great within the team. We share the same vision, and we talk about the small details that riders look for always”.

“We also ride offensively and I like to ride in this way. That’s why I love this team. The team trusts me and I trust them. We also don’t have one captain, but a bunch of strong guys that can finalize the job of any race we enter. That’s what makes our team one of the best in the world.”

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