John Degenkolb will skip Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as Team dsm-firmenich PostNL announces lineups for opening weekend in Flanders

John Degenkolb and Nils Eekhoff - perhaps the two most important riders of DSM-firmenich PostNL for the upcoming spring classics - will not participate in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. The German and Dutchman will make an appearance one day later in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

A conscious choice, as sports director Pim Ligthart explains. "Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne will be the opening of the classic season for our specialists John and Nils. We see a great opportunity for them in Kuurne. We hope to take advantage of the fact that this is their first day of competition of the weekend, which will give them a fresh start."

In the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, DSM-firmenich PostNL is counting on a relatively young freebooting team. Ligthart: "The Belgian season opener is always a race to look forward to. It is a challenging course. This time we start with a young and ambitious team, with which we will seize every opportunity to participate at the front. We will look for breakaways or other dangerous moves."

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL lineup for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad:
Frank van den Broek, Pavel Bittner, Sean Flynn, Niklas Märkl, Tim Naberman, Patrick Eddy and Emils Liepins

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL lineup for Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne:
Nils Eekhoff, John Degenkolb, Sean Flynn, Frank van den Broek, Niklas Märkl, Bram Welten and Pavel Bittner