Gerrans will lead Orica for Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Orica-GreenEDGE have announced that Simon Gerrans will be their main man for the race on Sunday. Gerrans finished 11th in Amstel Gold Race a week ago and then he skipped La Fleche Wallone. He won Liege-Bastogne-Liege back in 2014 and he is looking for his first one-day race win since Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in September 2014.
Sports Director Matt White gave his opinion on the race:
“We have a good history of results in the race especially with Simon Gerrans victory here in 2014. The weather forecast for Sunday is not great and if the snow actually arrives it will make for an epic edition of the race. It is arguably the hardest one-day race on the calendar, the last 80 kilometers are really difficult and this year we have an additional cobbled climb in the last three kilometers. It is short but steep and after 250 kilometers of racing the climb could change the whole perspective of the finale.”
Last year, Simon Gerrans was not in the best position to defend his 2014 victory as he had just 8 race days in his legs. This year however, he is in a much better form and is certainly one of the men to watch.
The 35 year-old has a strong team around him that features Michael Albasini, 7th place in La Fleche, and Paris-Roubaix winner Mathew Hayman. Along the more experienced riders, Orica brings a couple of LBL debutantes like Adam Yates.
“We definitely have a plan to be competitive, we’ve got a nice mix of youth and experience in the team and we want to perform well in the big races. For the young guy’s like Jack (Haig) this is a great opportunity to experience one-day racing at the highest level.”
“The atmosphere in the team is really positive. We have performed well in our last few races and we go into Liège-Bastogne-Liège with the aim of supporting Simon and protecting him until the final,” added White.
Orica-GreenEdge line-up for Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Michael Albasini, Simon Gerrans, Jack Haig, Mathew Hayman, Daryl Impey, Chris Juul Jensen, Christian Meier and Adam Yates.