After a brief break from racing, Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) heads into the Ardennes Classics, ‘on schedule’ and with the full support of his Sky teammates behind him.
The former world road race champion came out on top in Amstel Gold Race twelve months ago, and will spearhead Team Sky over the next week, with Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege on the horizon.
This is the Pole’s first Classics campaign in Team Sky colours after his winter transfer from Etixx-QuickStep but he has already brought home success in 2016 with a win in E3-Harelbeke.
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“I’m on schedule and everything has gone well over the last two weeks. I’ve been training in Spain for the last few weeks and I’m ready to go for Sunday,” a relaxed Kwiatkowski told Cyclingnews on the eve of Amstel Gold Race.
Unlike many of his Ardennes rivals, Kwiatkowski has dabbled in the cobbled Classics, while riders like Simon Gerrans, Dan Martin and Alejandro Valverde – all three former Ardennes winners – have all shied away from the cobbles to focus on the next trio of races. Kwiatkowski, though, believes that his programme may play to his advantage.
“I did just two of the cobbled Classics, E3 and the Tour of Flanders. Honestly, I don’t think that it’s made a big difference to my form or my preparation. I didn’t feel anymore fatigue after Flanders than I should have and I’ve done a similar race programme before. I think that this approach might even be better than riding Pais Vasco. The conditions there were way too hard for preparing for the Ardennes.”
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