The Belgian opening weekend will be one to remember for Josh Giddings as he sprinted to victory in the U23 Brussel-Opwijk race on Sunday. The Lotto-Dstny Development Team rider is the first British winner of this race in its 70 editions: “I can’t put into words how happy I am with this victory. It’s been a long time coming.” He dedicated his win to Tijl de Decker, the Lotto rider who came third last year in this race and first in the U23 Paris-Roubaix last year before being killed while out training last autumn. “It was beautiful to have a minute silence for him [before the race]. He definitely pushed me to that win today,” he added He also thanked his teammates for helping him with the win: “it’s been a winter of so many changes.” The team’s plan was to split the race up early which they did and then Josh found himself in a group of 15 with four other teammates. Every one of the team was commmited and they were able to come to the line with this group. Josh placed himself perfectly and wasn't going to lose this opportunity to get his hands in the air for the first time in two years.
He’s settling into life with one of Belgium’s top teams and the oldest in the pro peloton. This weekend the whole team, seniors down to development team were in the same hotel “I can tell you the atmosphere is really high”. Having arrived back in Belgium the previous week he’s learning from the whole team “I’ve built many great relationships with riders and staff and can’t wait to continue it”. And fortunately, the expectations of the Belgian nation hasn’t “been bad”! He paid tribute to the fans even when he’s out training. “Really makes you enjoy the sport”. His next two races are Le Samyn (Tuesday) and the GP Monsere (named after a Belgian world champion killed after winning the Worlds. Both are in the Walloon region, and the latter will see him with the senior team. He added: “for next month I have some big goals on the 1.2 [2nd level of one day races] or U23 level of racing” Thank you to Josh for speaking to us so soon after his win.
Read the report from the team website here: https://www.lottodstny.be/en/news/detail/5131/joshua-giddings-and-lotto-dstny-devo-team-dominate-brussels-opwijk
Thanks to Mike Underwood for asking the questions and Josh for his time.
All photos from Josh's Instagram account and the Lotto Dstny Website
Follow Josh
Twitter: @josh_giddings
IG: @joshgiddings_