We announce our line-up for the first of two Women’s World Tour races this week in Belgium. The team will race Thursday’s Oxyclean Classic Brugge – De Panne with Alice and Hannah Barnes, Elise Chabbey, Lisa Klein, Hannah Ludwig and Alexis Ryan.

Alice finished sixth in last year’s edition which was held in late October. It was the British national road champion’s best result in a Women’s World Tour one-day race to date and says she is looking forward to another opportunity.

“I’m happy with my form in the races that I’ve done so far this season. We’re going in to the race on Thursday with a really strong team. Even though it’s a race that very often ends in a sprint, the racing this year has been different and quite unpredictable,” said Alice.

“We’ll look to race to the strengths of our team and play off one another. We can’t afford to make the same mistakes like last year in De Panne where we wasted energy and almost missed the final move.”

Starting in Brugge the peloton heads west to the coast of Belgium for two 45km-long circuits around De Panne. The 158km race is energy sapping not only from the distance but the predictable crosswinds and echelons the peloton faces.

“With the race being so flat the wind plays the biggest factor, though it’s looking slightly less windy on Thursday than it has been in previous years. That will make the race more open with riders not waiting for specific sections only. We have to stay focused and make sure we have a chance of winning no matter the race situation,” said Alice.

How to follow

Racing starts on Thursday 25 March at 12:55CET and can be followed on Twitter with #OxycleanClassic and #UCIWWT. The race will be broadcast live on Sporza, Eurosport and GCN+ app from 15:00CET to 17:15CET.

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