The Eindhoven Squadra Triathlon Team has passed the last few weeks training in Spain. A three week camp at Calpe with Vuelta Turistica (organization of former triathlete Inge Van den Broeck and former bike-pro Jurgen Van Goolen) prepared the athletes for the first big goals of the upcomming season. Friday Belgian triathleten Jonathan Wayaffe will participate in the WTS at Abu Dhabi, along with Marco van der Stel. In Las Palmas no less than five Squadra athletes will participate in the ETU Cup on march 18th, among who two Belgians.
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"The conditions at Calpe were ideal, Vuelta Turistica offered the opportunity to meet up with 3athlon.be and the Belgian youth selection," says coach Thomas Steurbaut. "We came down with a big squad and pushed three weeks of hard training in all disciplines down, topped off with some brick sessions. Most of the athletes seem in good shape. Who is in top form at this moment? Friday will tell. Jonathan Wayaffe left a strong impression, in extremis he obtained a spot at the WTS and we look forward to see him perform among the worlds top athletes."
The Squadra squad at Calpe was divers. Marco van der Stel and Menno Koolhaas were missing. They had another mission at South Africa in the ITU World Cup, where Marco came sixth. The coaches in Spain had an international squad to train. New-Zeeland Malcolm King is the most exotic and next to being a triathlete he also performs outstanding in shooting and editing videos, as show above. Spannish triathlete Carlos Jimenez and cyclists Renze Posma and Joel Dirckx. Renze is an ITU development athlete from Aruba who since 2018 resides in the Netherlands. Then there were some Belgians: Lucas Van Deynze, Tim Van Hemel, Neal Van Vaerenbergh and Jonathan Wayaffe. Finn Timmermans and Youri Vaes were the only two Dutch.
Saskia Postma: "the 2018 goal is to win the national Lotto Eredivision. Internationally our focus is on the WC and on willing to give our athletes the opportunity to participate in elite races all over the world, allowing them to get a taste from the performance climate. Athletes with divergent personal goals will be supported with coaching and material to obtain fulfillment. We have tried to create a group of athletes who will take each other to the next level, both as athlete as as person."
Friday Abu Dhabi will host the first World Triathlon Series of the year. Squadra representatives are Jonathan Wayaffe and Marco van der Stel. One week later, Tim Van Hemel and Lucas Van Deynze start in the Belgian championship cross duathlon at Retie. On march 18th the opening race of the ETU Europa Cup will take place at Las Palmas. Squadra representatives will be Van Hemel, Wayaffe, Postma, Koolhaas and van der Stel.
Original article on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 01/03/2018
Translation by @T0v3