Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) with a late attack in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Joaquim Rodríguez tries on his beret(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) celebrates his stage victory(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rui Costa (Lampre Merida)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Late attackers Yves Lampaert (Etixx-Quick-Step) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Three-time Amstel Gold Race champion Philippe Gilbert will headline BMC Racing Team’s roster for Sunday's WorldTour race in The Netherlands. The 32-year-old Belgian previously won the race in 2010, 2011 and 2014.
Gilbert most recently finished third at Brabantse Pijl, which was won by Gilbert’s teammate Ben Hermans, who will also start the Dutch WorldTour race.
Greg Van Avermaet, who is currently under scrutiny for his connections to Dr. Chris Mertens, with the Belgian cycling federation calling for a two-year ban, will also start Sunday’s race. He finished third in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
BMC for Amstel Gold Race: Marcus Burghardt, Damiano Caruso, Silvan Dillier, Philippe Gilbert, Ben Hermans, Samuel Sánchez, Dylan Teuns, Greg Van Avermaet
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Rodriguez headlines Katusha's Amstel roster
Joaquim Rodríguez, winner of Fleche-Wallone in 2012, will lead Team Katusha at the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. The 35-year-old Spaniard is no doubt hoping to recapture the form that previously led to victory in the Ardennes Classics.
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Rodríguez will bring good form to the Dutch race after winning two stages and the overall at Pais Vasco last week. Rodríguez also won the points jersey in the Spanish race.
Katusha for Amstel Gold Race: Giampaolo Caruso, Dmitriy Kozonchuk, Sergey Lagutin, Alberto Losada, Daniel Moreno, Tiago Machado, Joaquim Rodriguez and Alexey Tsatevich.
Valls, Costa lead Lampre-Merida into Ardennes
The Italian Lampre-Merida squad have announced their rosters for the upcoming Ardennes Classics, starting with the Amstel Gold Race in The Netherlands on Sunday, followed by la Fleche-Wallone on April 22 and Liege-Bastogne-Liege on April 26.
The eight riders selected for Amstel include Niccolò Bonifazio, Valerio Conti, Rui Costa, Kristijan Durasek, Manuele Mori, Jan Polanc, Diego Ulissi and Rafael Valls. Colombian climber Josè Serpa will take the place of Durasek in Wallone and Leige.
Lampre-Merida are hoping that while most of the peloton is marking 2013 World Champion Costa, Valls could come up with his own result. The 27-year-old Spaniard has had a good season so far, taking a stage and the overall classification at Tour of Oman and b=grabbing multiple top 10 finishes in Paris-Nice ad Volta a Catalunya.
