This week we gather in Brussels. Stephan Conter and his team are ready to welcome the world’s top riders, including Olympic champions, European champions, and other elite competitors. Belgium will also be strongly represented!
And the audience is in for a treat. The Belgian golden team with Gilles Thomas, Thibeau Spits, Pieter Devos, and Nicola Philippaerts, who became European champions last month, will compete again for the first time since the European Championship. Last year, Team Belgium won silver in the Belgian Nations Cup. Will they jump to gold this time, just like at the European Championship? It certainly won’t be a walk in the park, with Olympic champion and European vice-champion Great Britain sending its strongest delegation, including Scott Brash and Ben Maher, the world’s number 2. Maher won Olympic gold in Paris last year with Dallas Vegas Batilly, with whom he had already claimed the Rolex Grand Prix, presented by Audi, the year before.
Steve Guerdat, ranked number 4 in the world, was the defending European champion this year, riding Dynamix de Belheme, with whom he finished second in the Rolex Grand Prix last year. Right after José Maria Larocca with Finn Lente. For the Argentine, that was the greatest victory of his rich career. A year earlier, he had already placed second in the Rolex Grand Prix, so his win was the ultimate highlight.
Scott Brash, Ben Maher, Steve Guerdat, José Maria Larocca — they are the big challengers for the Belgians, who will also have to face world champion Henrik von Eckermann and individual Olympic champion Christian Kukuk.
