Team expect race victory to come down to final climb
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Michał Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Michał Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) wins Amstel Gold Race 2015(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The peloton in the Fleche Wallonne(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The Fleche Wallonne bunch hits the Mur de Huy(Image credit: Sirotti)
Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quickstep)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Michal Kwiatkowski crashed coming off the Poggio.(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Confidence is high in the Etixx-QuickStep camp after Michal Kwiatkowski resoundingly broke the Belgian team's run of second places in the Classics. The Polish rider claimed his first victory in the rainbow stripes at Amstel Gold last weekend and will now lead the team into battle at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday.
Kwiatkowski claimed his first Classics podium at the race last year, before going on to secure another top three placing at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Despite this, Kwiatkowski told reporters ahead of his ride at Amstel that the mid-week race was his least favourite of the Ardennes, with its finish favouring the punchier riders. The team are still confident that the world champion can deliver the result on Wednesday.
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Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
