With Milan-San Remo already added to his palmares this year, Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) will ride Liege-Bastogne-Liege to ensure he, or another Team Sky rider, will follow teammate Wout Poels' 2016 victory in cycling's oldest Classic on Sunday.
Kwiatkowski was second behind Philippe Gilbert in Amstel Gold Race last weekend and seventh in Flèche Wallonne - performances similar to the most recent time that the Polish star skipped all of the cobbled Classics in 2014, when he was fifth in Amstel and third in both Fleche-Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Cyclingnews interviewed the Pole before news broke of the death of Michele Scarponi. He told Cyclingnews that he has felt the benefits of that change of program, and that he's feeling "very similar to 2014. Even if I didn't get the top three in Fleche. I'm feeling great and looking forward to seeing what I can do on Sunday."
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He agrees that Valverde will start in Liege as the standout favourite with the rest of the contenders one level below.
"It's not only what he's done in the Classics before, but also the spring he's had, the best one he's ever done. If you look at last year, too, he had a very similar [disappointing] performance in Amstel, but then smashed everyone in Fleche. It'll be up to his team to take responsibility in the bunch, because he's clearly the strongest.
"But that's how it is, rather than thinking about him too much, we have to look at our own options, at what we can do. If you just wait for an acceleration from Valverde and for him to make a move in the finale, that's not the way to win the race. You have to use your abilities to race as you want, not as Valverde wants. So let's hope he's beatable on Sunday."
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