After two months of one-day races - the only exception being the Healthy Ageing Tour - it is time for stage races in May. The thirteenth edition of Festival Elsy Jacobs starts with a 2.2 kilometres prologue in Cessange. The two following stages are both longer than one hundred kilometres and contain several short but vicious climbs.

In the last edition, in 2019, Riejanne Markus opened this race with a strong time trial and finished third on the podium. In the final stage she took another shot at victory, but after a strong solo in the final she was caught by the peloton just before the finish line. “The finish was just ten metres too far, otherwise I would have won the general classification. In the past few weeks and especially in Liège-Bastogne-Liège I have gained confidence. So, I am really looking forward to this race.”

“Time trials are my favourite cycling discipline”, Markus continues. “Due to the cancellation of many races, I was hardly able to ride them last year. The last one was during the World Championship Mixed Relay in 2019. This weekend, after the prologue, we’ll see what kind of position we’re in and then we’ll have two days of good racing. In any case, both stages lend themselves to a tough race with a lot of attacks.”

Racecoach Lieselot Decroix: “We are aiming for a good result in the general classification. A lot will be determined by Friday's prologue, so that's the first thing we're looking forward to. It would be nice if we could get higher in the ranking with Riejanne than in her last edition. But as a good time trialist, Karlijn Swinkels is also suitable for this prologue and thus a potential asset for the GC. It is one of our goals to take a step in our development as a team to also be able to go for the GC win in a stage race.”