The Belgium-based cycling team Veranda's Willems-Crelan are back in their fifth season as a professional team in 2017, and have shown that they have put together a strong group of riders who have put them atop the UCI Professional Continental rankings.
The Veranda's Willems-Crelan cycling team was formed in 2013 as the Verandas Willems cycling team, named after their title sponsor Veranda's Willems, a Belgian manufacturer of verandas, pergolas, and swimming pool covers. Crelan, a Belgian retail, commercial, and agricultural banking cooperative, joined on as co-title sponsor of the team for the 2017 season.
Outfitted by Belgian sportswear company Erima, the Veranda's Willems-Crelan team wear sleek black kits with green accent and white title sponsor branding. The team rides Felt bikes, generally using the Felt "F" for road races, the Felt "AR FDR" for time trials, and the Felt "F1x" for cyclocross races.
Veranda's Willems- Crelan also has partnerships with companies such as charcuterie company Charles, car rental company Luxauto, SRAM components, Prologo cycling accessories, Schwalbe tires, construction crane provide Deceuster & Co., and Speedplay pedals.
Currently, the Veranda's Willems-Crelan team sits in a strong 5th place among the UCI Europe Tour standings with 2,221 UCI points accumulated thus far.
The young Belgian rider Wout van Aert has stormed onto the professional cycling scene in recent years, and has continually put up outstanding results at big races. van Aert's greatest accomplishment was donning the rainbow jersey back-to-back years after capturing the UCI Cyclocross World Championship title in both 2016 and 2017. In each of those years as well, van Aert emerged victorious at the Belgian National Cyclocross Championship. While Wout van Aert is internationally known for his cyclocross prowess, the Belgian has also put in outstanding efforts on the road as well for the Veranda's Willems-Crelan squad. In May, van Aert took a respectable 35th overall at the competitive Tour of Norway before finishing 10th overall and 3rd in the points classification at the Baloise Belgium Tour. In June and July van Aert excelled in the one day races, where he first won the Ronde van Limburg, followed by victories at the Bruges Cycling Classic and Grand Prix Cerami. van Aert also displayed his time trialing abilities in June, finishing 6th overall at the Belgian National Time Trial Championship.
Dutch veteran Huub Duijn has been another rider that has been central to the success of the Veranda's Willems-Crelan team, after signing with the Belgian squad for the 2017 season. Duijin is in his 14th year in the professional peloton, and has continued to put in solid results this year. At the Spring Classics Duijin fared well, placing 49th at E3 Harelbeke, 54th at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, 63rd at Gent Wevelgem, 65th at Draws door Vlaanderen, and 68th at Omloop het Nieuwsblad. Duijn's skills truly shone however in June, where the Dutch rider finished an impressive 5th overall at the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg, followed by an 8th place showing at the Dutch National Road Race Championship ahead of a multitude of World Tour riders. Duijn has proved to be not only a valuable asset on the road for Veranda's Willems-Crelan, but a veteran professional who adds over a decade of experience to a team with thirteen of their seventeen riders under the age of 30.
Tim Merlier is a young rider to watch for on the Veranda's Willems-Crelan team going into the future, especially in the one day races. Merlier is in his first year at the Pro Continental level, and has been strong for the Belgian team thus far. After competing at Four Days of Dunkirk and the Baloise Belgium Tour in May, Merlier had an outstanding June. The Belgian rider finished a solid 20th at the Carrefour Market Heistse Pijl and 15th at Ronde van Limburg, followed by a strong 6th place finish on Stage 2 of Ster ZLM Toer. Likely Merlier's most impressive showing in 2017 came at the Belgian National Road Race Championships, where he finished 6th overall, ahead of dozens of World Tour riders.
In August, the Veranda's Willems-Crelan team will be lining up against eighteen World Tour teams and three other Pro Continental teams at the 13th edition of the highly competitive BinckBank Tour, formerly known as the Eneco Tour.
The complete roster for the 2017 Veranda's Willems-Crelan cycling team includes:
Riders
| BILLE Gaetan | 06.04.1988 | BEL | |
| CORDEEL Sander | 07.11.1987 | BEL | |
| DE BONDT Dries | 04.07.1991 | BEL | |
| DEVOLDER Stijn | 29.08.1979 | BEL | |
| DUIJN Huub | 01.09.1984 | NED | |
| DUPONT Timothy | 01.11.1987 | BEL | |
| GODRIE Stan | 09.01.1993 | NED | |
| KRUOPIS Aidis | 26.10.1986 | LTU | |
| MERLIER Tim | 30.10.1992 | BEL | |
| PRÉMONT Christophe | 22.11.1989 | BEL | |
| VAN ZUMMEREN Stef | 20.12.1991 | BEL | |
| VERGAERDE Otto | 15.07.1994 | BEL |
Neo-Pros
| GOOLAERTS Michael | 24.07.1994 | BEL | |
| JASPERS Jappe | 01.09.1998 | BEL | |
| VAN AERT Wout | 15.09.1994 | BEL | |
| VAN BREUSSEGEM Elias | 10.04.1992 | BEL |
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