We will be at Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday 14 April with a team of Alena Amialiusik, Neve Bradbury, Ella Harris, Mikayla Harvey, Hannah Ludwig and Omer Shapira.

The UCI 1.1 race has 22 climbs over its 127 kilometre parcours which includes two local finishing circuits, and is set to be well suited to many riders of our squad including Mikayla and Alena.

Mikayla returns after a three-week break from racing since Trofeo Alfredo Binda last month.

“Things weren’t going quite right the last month and I was starting to feel fatigued the whole time. I took a step back and spoke with my close network of supporters. I realised I was training very hard, not getting enough recovery, and after my first long winter in Europe I was also low in Vitamin D and iron. Fortunately, these were all easily fixed and I have spent the past few weeks really focusing on my diet and recovery,” said Mikayla.

“I’ve been very envious of the racing. Being able to watch my teammates on the television really inspired me during my training sessions and kept me motivated to get back racing. Now I am fresh and ready! I can not wait to start racing again and go into battle with my teammates.”

“The Brabantse Pijl course looks very challenging and though I didn’t race it, I saw the bunch was very split last year. I like a hard course, so I am looking forward to racing and blowing out a few cobwebs! I don’t have any pressure on myself for the race. My main goal is to go out and race my heart out. I want to race smart but aggressive and enjoy racing with some new teammates and make my team proud! The finishing circuit is key to Wednesday’s race, positioning will be critical on the cobbled sections as well as the bergs leading into the finish,” explained the 22 year old from New Zealand.

Mikayla’s teammate Alena is also likely to enjoy the constant undulations adding up to 1522 metres of elevation over the parcours.

“I have never done Brabantse Pijl before but I am looking forward. I am motivated for Wednesday and then going on to the Ardennes. I especially love the Ardennes classics. My goal is to be strong and race aggressively with my teammates. We really want to achieve some good results in the next ten days,” said Alena.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Brabantse Pijl starts at 10:50CEST in Sint-Kwintens-Lennik and is scheduled to finish at 14:00CEST in Overijse. The race can be followed on Twitter with #BPwomen. A live broadcast is on Proximus Pickx, Eurosport and GCN+ from 11:15 to 14:20CEST.

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