Spanish teams Caisse d'Epargne and Saunier Duval have announced their respective rider line-ups for the upcoming Ardennes Classics in Southern Belgium and the Netherlands. Starting this Sunday with the Amstel Gold Race, followed by the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday and La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège the following Sunday, Caisse d'Epargne's line-up will be the same for all three races.
Team captain Alejandro Valverde will be joined by José Vicente Garcia, David López García, Alberto Losada, Oscar Pereiro, Joaquím Rodríguez, José Joaquín Rojas and Luis León Sánchez in his attempt to renew his 2006 victories of Flèche and Liège.
Saunier Duval, on the other hand, opted for three different team compositions. The Amstel Gold Race, to be held Sunday, will see Riccardo Riccò, Eros Capecchi, Jesús Del Nero, David De La Fuente, Josep Jufré, Rubén Lobato, Aurélien Passeron and Alberto Fernández De La Puebla at the start line in Maastricht. On Wednesday, in Flèche Wallonne, Jesús Del Nero, Aurélien Passeron and Alberto Fernández will be replaced by Gómez Marchante, Rubens Bertogliati and Leonardo Piepoli. The same men, except for Bertogliati, who will again be replaced by Del Nero, will be in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, April 27.
South African team Barloworld also communicated its rider selection for the Amstel Gold Race this Sunday. Team manager Claudio Corti's line-up for the event will be based around Moisés Dueñas, who showed signs of improvement in two recent stage races, Christian Pfannberger, who won the Giro del Capo, and Hugo Sabido. Also riding are John-Lee Augustyn, Giampaolo Cheula, Marco Corti, Christopher Froome and Carlo Scognamiglio.
