Having won the first two Ardennes Classics, Team Gerolsteiner is heading confidently into the third race within a week. Amstel Gold winner Stefan Schumacher and Flèche Wallonne winner Davide Rebellin will lead the team Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Rebellin, who won all three of the races in 2004, is considered by many to be the favourite going in to the race - but not the only one, he said. "I am not the only favourite," he told HLN. "There are many guys who are riding strongly. But I have the advantage, in that I can start Sunday without any stress."
Schumacher, who was a dark horse winner in Amstel Gold, did not finish the Flèche Wallonne. The combination of exhaustion after his winning effort on Sunday, lingering problems with a knee injury suffered in Pais Vasco and the high humidity in Belgium proved to be too much for him, and he dropped out of the race, but looks to be fit again on Sunday.
The team itself pointed at Fabian Wegmann as its third man who could go for the victory on Sunday. The lean climber already proved very useful for both Schumacher and Rebellin this week, and could just be the perfect 'plan B'.
Gerolsteiner for Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Markus Fothen, Tim Klinger, Bernhard Kohl, Davide Rebellin, Stefan Schumacher, Fabian Wegmann, Oliver Zaugg and Markus Zberg.
