Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quickstep) wins the 2015 Strade Bianche(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Michal Kwiatkowski (r) of Poland and Omega Pharma-QuikStep celebrates as he crosses the line to win during Stage Four of the 2014 Tour of Britain from Worcester to Bristol.
Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) tries on another yellow jersey(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quickstep) with the Etixx train(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep)(Image credit: OPQS/Tim de Waele)
Etixx-QuickStep have an enviable list of options for the first Monument of the year. Despite losing the talismanic Tom Boonen, they still head into Sunday’s Milan-San Remo with former winner Mark Cavendish, world champion Michal Kwiatkowski and recent Strade Bianche winner Zdenek Stybar. Few other teams can match them in terms of options aside from perhaps BMC with Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet to choose between.
With a string of top talent on their roster it’s rare that Etixx-QuickStep enter a race without a plan B but it doesn’t always work out. At last year’s Tour of Flanders they went in with three leaders but failed to make the podium, however, a week later they reversed their fortunes as Niki Terpstra stormed away to win Paris-Roubaix.
So what it is this year? Is it a case of too many cook spoil the broth or can they use it to their advantage?
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Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
