Tomorrow the season of spring classics starts with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The agency Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also organizes races such as the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, today awarded the starting places for their classics.
In addition to the WorldTour teams entitled to start, the ProConti outfits NetApp-Endura and IAM also received well-known invitations. For example, on April 13, both will be able to tackle the 112th edition of Paris-Roubaix. The 100th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 27th is now in the logbook of the Raublinger team, which, however, has to do without La Flèche Wallonne on April 23rd. IAM, on the other hand, is also allowed to take part in these two races. From a German point of view, the wildcard award for the last two races to the South African racing team MTN-Qhubeka, which has two of the currently strongest German professionals in its ranks in Gerald Ciolek and Linus Gerdemann, is also gratifying.
Ralph Denk, manager of the NetApp-Endura team, is delighted with the wildcard award and also looks to Flanders in the same breath: “Our classics program this season is first class. The team is now looking forward to the decision on the Tour of Flanders. I'm optimistic that we'll even be able to put all five monuments in our drivers' program this year. The team is correspondingly motivated in the preparation.”
Paris-Roubaix
Ag2R-La Mondiale, Astana, Belkin, BMC, Cannondale, FDJ.fr, Garmin-Sharp, Lampre-Merida, Lotto-Belisol, Movistar, Omega Pharma-Quick-Step, Orica-GreenEdge, Europcar, Giant-Shimano, Katusha, Sky, Tinkoff-Saxo, Trek, Brittany-Séché Environment, cofidis, IAM, NetApp–Endura, Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise, UnitedHealthcare, Wanty–Groupe Gobert
La flèche wallonne
Ag2R-La Mondiale, Astana, Belkin, BMC, Cannondale, FDJ.fr, Garmin-Sharp, Lampre-Merida, Lotto-Belisol, Movistar, Omega Pharma-Quick-Step, Orica-GreenEdge, Europcar, Giant-Shimano, Katusha, Sky, Tinkoff-Saxo, Trek, Cofidis, Colombia, IAM, MTN-Qhubeka, Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, UnitedHealthcare, Wanty-Groupe Gobert
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Ag2R-La Mondiale, Astana, Belkin, BMC, Cannondale, FDJ.fr, Garmin-Sharp, Lampre-Merida, Lotto-Belisol, Movistar, Omega Pharma-Quick-Step, Orica-GreenEdge, Europcar, Giant-Shimano, Katusha, Sky, Tinkoff-Saxo, Trek, cofidis, Colombia, IAT THE, MTN-Qhubeka, NetApp-Endura, Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, Wanty–Groupe Gobert (Bel)