Castilla y León preludes Ardennes trio
11 April 2013

Lineups

Movistar Team brings strong squad into Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège; Javi Moreno to defend his 2012 title in Spain

After last week’s great success on Basque soil -with Nairo Quintana conquering Arrate and the overall at Vuelta al País Vasco, plus Rui Costa’s victory in the Klasika Primavera-, Movistar Team continues with its busy schedule in the month of April and will be dividing its forces this weekend with the aim of increasing its victory account of 2013 -now in eight-.

A first roster directed by José Luis Jaimerena will be heading into the Dutch region of Limburg oin Friday to start the Ardennes classics. The Amstel Gold Race (Sunday), the Flèche Wallonne (Wednesday 17) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Sunday 21) will be huge challenges for a strong Blue lineup led by Alejandro Valverde, dual winner in Ans (2006, 2008) and also successful in the past atop the Mur de Huy (2006). Alongside the Spaniard will be Nairo Quintana, Rui Costa, Andrey Amador, Pablo Lastras, Imanol Erviti, Ángel Madrazo and Giovanni Visconti.

In turn, a second block coordinated by sports director José Luis Laguía will race the 28th Vuelta a Castilla y León from tomorrow. The Spanish stagerace has softened its usually mountainous route, with two flat stages towards Valladolid and Palencia before Sunday’s uphill finish in Cervera de Pisuerga. Javi Moreno, overall winner in 2012 after impressive tactics from Movistar Team, will head an eight-man squad also featuring José Joaquín Rojas, Iván Gutiérrez, Vladimir Karpets, Rubén Plaza, Enrique Sanz, Eloy Teruel and Sylwester Szmyd.