The race is 32 kilometres long and the route crosses the Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg. “I’ve been working on it since a week. It’s nice to have a goal in this period”, Van Aert said. He’s already made the necessary preparations. “I’ve already turned off the heater in the room where I will race. It will be nice and cool.” According to the Belgian rider, sports director Grischa Niermann knows more about virtual cycling. “Mike and I will schedule a digital meeting with him.”

Teunissen will also start: “I like it to race online. This way, we can show our team and the sponsors to the cycling lovers. Besides that, it’s nice to offer the fans something else, especially now there aren’t races in real life.” The Dutchman also prepared himself a bit. “The last few days, I jumped on my Tacx a bit more. The upcoming days, I will start in some other digital races to get used to it. And I heard I have a digital meeting with Wout and Grischa. I guess our sports director will give us a few tips.”

You can watch De Ronde 2020: Lockdown Edition this Sunday at 15.30 live at our website.