Quick-Step Floors again opt for a multiple leader strategy
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Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) is all smiles ahead of Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) wins Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images Sport)
Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) wins the final stage at Pais Vasco(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Quick-Step Floors team will continue to field multiple team leaders in their line up for the Spring Classics, with Philippe Gilbert, Julian Alaphilippe and Niki Terpstra named as team leaders for Sunday's Amstel Gold Race.
The Belgian team dominated many of the cobbled Classics thanks to their strength in depth, with Terpstra winning E3 Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders, while Remi Cavagna, Eli Viviani, Yves Lampaert, Alvaro Hodeg and Fabio Jakobsen won other cobbled races, lifting Quick-Step Floors' win total to 24.
Terpstra will continue his spring campaign to include the only one-day Dutch Classic of the season, with Alaphilippe and Gilbert joining him as co-team leaders. Gilbert won the Amstel Gold Race last year, taking his fourth victory and confirming his title as King of the Cauberg.
Also in the Quick-Step Floors seven-rider team are Bob Jungels, Davide Martinelli, Enric Mas and Pieter Serry.
Gilbert was disappointed to finish 15th at Paris-Roubaix but has prepared his spring to be on form in both the cobbled Classics and the Ardennes Classics. Alaphilippe has followed a more traditional Ardennes build-up by riding the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.
The aggressive Frenchman won two stages and lead the race but then slipped out of overall contention as the Grand Tour riders took control in the steep Basque hills. He missed De Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday due to a minor illness but the team expect him to make a full recovery in time for Sunday.
Ready for the new finale
Quick-Step Floors will try to use their strength in numbers to dominate the race, but are facing some serious competition from Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb).
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"We are lining up with a strong squad, hoping that we can be in the mix when the race is decided and perhaps repeat last year's success," directeur sportif Wilfried Peeters said when the team's line-up was announced.
"The final has changed again, so we will have narrower roads in the last kilometres, which can play in favour of the breakaway. Staying in front will be important as the roads make it hard to organize a chase. However, it is not the race nor the route but the riders who make the difference.
"Amstel is one of those races where you have to be awake at all times and there will be a lot of fighting for positions. Being in the right place at the right time makes the difference but to be there, you need not only to be smart but also to have the legs."
Cyclingnews will have full live coverage of both the men's and women's editions of the Amstel Gold Race, followed by a race report, photo gallery, news and interviews.
