Donavan Grondin : "Belgian races suit me more and more"
Donavan Grondin, who has ridden a large part of the Belgian races, feels more and more comfortable on the Flemish roads. He will be at the start of the Heistse Pijl on Saturday.
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“The Heistse Pijl is a Flemish race that is often successful for sprinters. My programme consists of quite a few races of this kind, and I am enjoying them more and more. I like the atmosphere of these races and the way they are raced. They suit me more and more. I am going back to Belgium at the end of the week after having done a track endurance training session with the French team at the Vélodrome National de Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines. This little reminder of the track after three months without doing it has allowed me to “work” at high intensity in a different way to the road. It’s a change. I also worked on my velocity, because on a velodrome the efforts are made at more than 100 rpm. This allows me to strengthen my explosiveness.”
“A block of three Belgian races will animate the weekend for the Arkéa-Samsic team, we will have different riders on each of them, and the ambition is to achieve good performances each time, with real possibilities of victory. We will give ourselves the means to perform well, because I have a group that likes these races and that knows the Flemish roads and especially enjoys racing on them. The Heistse Pijl has a profile for sprinters, it is relatively flat. Dan will be our best card in case of a massive finish. He’s been around the block since the beginning of the season and has had a lot of setbacks in the last few weeks, so I’d be really happy for him if, with the help of the whole team, he could put the ball in the net”.