Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Cycling Pro: No waiting for HTC-Highroad at Fleche Wallone

Details

Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News Cycling Pro Road & Mtb 2011

Published on Monday, 18 April 2011 19:49

Written by Luca Salvatelli

HTC-Highroad returns to racing at the Fleche Wallone Classic on Wednesday, and rather than wait for the final climb of the Mur de Huy, team will be looking for long-range attacks to make their mark.

"We've got a strong squad of all arounders, but we haven't really got a rider to make the all-out, uphill acceleration on the Mur that so often makes a difference in this race," explains HTC-Highroad sports director Valerio Piva, "So we'll adapt our strategy and we'll be looking for breaks from much further out."

"Each of the climbs earlier on offers a great opportunity for moves to form, and we'll want our riders to make the most of them."

If Fleche Wallone did come finally down to a large group at the foot of the Mur de Huy, Piva says the team will be working once again for Michael Albasini, a former top ten finisher in the race.

"Michael has good form but he was very unlucky at the Amstel Gold Race [on Sunday], he punctured just before there was a big crash in the last hour and the road got blocked."

"He got back on again to the main group, but at that point in the race you always pay a high price for any extra effort and he couldn't quite stay up there at the end."

"Hopefully, though, Wednesday's race will have a different outcome."

HTC-Highroad for Fleche Wallone: Michael Albasini (Swi); Caleb Fairly (USA); Patrick Gretsch (Ger), Craig Lewis (USA); Tony Martin (Ger); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl); Tejay Van Garderen (USA).