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Tom Boonen & Omega-Pharma Quick-Step riders to roll out for Etape PenninesOPQS rider (Creative commons license Dancingonthepedals:Flickr)

Tom Boonen & Omega-Pharma Quick-Step riders to roll out for Etape Pennines

Join the OPQS Rider club for VIP treatment on Northern closed-road sportive
by John Stevenson
Mon, Aug 05, 2013 15:12
4

The Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines has announced that members of the Omega-Pharma Quick-Step team including Tom Boonen will take part in this year’s event, on October 6.

Etape Pennines riders who want to ride with Omega-Pharma Quick-Step riders will have to join the OPQS Rider Club to take part in the OPQS wave.

Only 150 places are available in what organisers are calling the OPQS Rider Club. Membership incudes access to pro riders, before and during the race, and an OPQS jersey, and will cost £350.

As well as legendary sprinter Boonen organisers are offering the chance to ride with five time winner of the Six days of Ghent Iljo Keisse; rising UK star Andrew Fenn; and winner of the young rider classification at the Tour of Qatar Nikolas Maes.

The package also includes a namecheck and photo on the OPQS team website; a place at the OPQS Rider Club Dinner on October 5 at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, with 2-3 members of the OPQS team; access to the OPQS support vehicle during the ride; and access to the OPQS support staff (masseuse and mechanic) on the ride day.

One of only a handful of closed-road sportives in the UK, Etape Pennines takes in 2,000 metres of climbing during the 78 mile course in County Durham. Organisers say: “With breathtaking views and exhilarating downhill sections that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, your hard work is certainly rewarded.”

James Robinson, IMG Challenger World Managing Director, said: “Etape Pennines has set itself apart from regular cycling events as the toughest in the UK, as well as the most rewarding. We are honoured that a professional cycling team such as OPQS, which is held in such high regard among the cycling community, will come to Etape Pennines in October. We hope not only those who will ride in this exclusive wave, but all our 2,000 participants, are inspired by their attendance.

General places are still available via the Etape Pennines website. More details of the OPQS package are here.

 

Sportive
Etape Pennines
Omega Pharma Quick-Step
Tom Boonen
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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4 comments

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cllr hodgen | 11 years ago
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"Etape Pennines has set itself apart from regular cycling events as the toughest in the UK, as well as the most rewarding."

13 39 I smell british pound shaped BS! 44

Mr Robinson clearly hasn't travelled west to do the Fred Whitton Challenge... alternatively known as 'The daddy of them all' - granted the roads aren't closed and there's no OPQS riders put up in the ivory tower but then there's also £310 change after the entry fee!!

Avatar
gsk82 | 11 years ago
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the toughest sportive in the uk within 78miles? hmmm... hmmm...

Avatar
fluffchucker | 11 years ago
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£63 entry & none of this goes to Marie Curie Cancer Care.
£350 to join OPQS Rider Club [includes a dinner]

Sounds a bargain 2

Avatar
joemmo | 11 years ago
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Sounds a bit like someone trying to open up a new market in corporate hospitality, what with cycling being the new golf and all that.

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