Team Sunweb to play several cards at Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Apr 16 2018 07:55 pm CET
Photo of Tom Dumoulin © Wouter Roosenboom | Team Sunweb
Team Sunweb is ready to face the next two Classics of the seasons with strong rosters that feature riders like Sam Oomen, Michael Matthews and Tom Dumoulin.
The first appointment in the upcoming classics is the Fleche Wallone in which the team will try to be aware of all the attacks a race like this has in store. "At Flèche Wallonne we usually see the attacks coming in thick and fast on the final lap and this year we also expect the race to be decided on the Mur de Huy," said coach Aike Visbeek.
"Weather conditions could play a big part in the outcome of the race with some warm weather forecasted and with a lot of open sections we need to stay focused at the important parts of the course."
Sunweb will have two cards to play for the last stretch of the race. "Our focus is to bring Sam and Michael in as fresh as possible condition to the final and if the final explodes early, Simon will also be a key guy to control things for us. Laurens and Johannes bring their experience into the race and can use this to guide the younger guys," the coach added.
For the weekend, the team will face Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a bigger selection of the riders that can look for the victory. "Our goal for Liège is to bring Tom, Sam, Michael and Simon (Geschke) into the final to give us a variety of cards to play," the coach commented. "A few changes to the parcours make the final 80 kilometres more demanding than in previous years which means that the final could start earlier and more riders will try their luck by attacking, ultimately making the race harder to control.
"The positioning in the last 80 kilometres will be important for us to save that little bit of extra energy that we will need to use when the race will be decided. This year, the weather conditions could also play an important role and our focus on nutrition and teamwork will be crucial. This race is close to Limburg and after the announcement of the Keep Challenging Center last week, we are really motivated to perform against the crowd there."
Sunweb's complete roster for Fleche Wallonne (18th of April):
Laurens ten Dam
Johannes Fröhlinger
Simon Geschke
Chad Haga
Chris Hamilton
Michael Matthews
Sam Oomen
Sunweb's complete roster for Liege-Bastogne-Liege (21st of April):
Tom Dumoulin
Johannes Fröhlinger
Simon Geschke
Chad Haga
Chris Hamilton
Michael Matthews
Sam Oomen
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