42nd Amstel Gold - Cofidis Team Preview
The Cofidis team brings a three pronged attack with Nick Nuyens, Sylvain Chavanel and as co-leaders and strong support riders in the first of the Ardennes Classics.

By Bart Hazen

Nick Nuyens (Belgium) one of the three leaders. Photo c. Bart Hazen

Preview: Cofidis team for the Amstel Gold Race
Cofidis will come with a very strong team to the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday April 22. The French team will start with Sylvain Chavanel (France), Nick Nuyens (Belgium), Maxime Monfort (Belgium), Rik Vebrugghe (Belgium), Cristian Moreni (Italy), Steve Zampieri (Switzerland), Leonardo Duque (Colombia) and former Dailypeloton writer Bingen Fernandez (Spain).

Cristian Moreni (Italy)    Photo c. Bart Hazen

The team will start with three leaders in the race; Sylvain Chavanel, Nick Nuyens and Cristian Moreni. Maxime Monfort let us know that Rik Verbrugghe, Steve Zampieri and Bingen Fernandez are in great shape too. So they think they can do well in the Amstel on Sunday.

Sylvain Chavanel (France)     Photo c. Bart Hazen

Last year the best ranked rider of Cofidis in the Amstel was Italian all rounder Cristian Moreni. He finished 18th at 1:25 from the winner Frank Schleck on top of the Cauberg. This year the only Cofidis rider to finish in the top 10 in a  ProTour one-day race is Nick Nuyens. Nick finished 7th in the Tour of Flanders at 13 seconds off the winner, Lampre/Fondital's Alessandro Ballan.

Further we had a quick chat with the talented young Belgian rider Maxime Monfort. Maxime is riding now for his second season with the French team. Before he joined Cofidis he rode three seasons for Landbouwkrediet/Colnago where he also started his professional career.

Maxime Monfort (Belgium)    Photo c. Bart Hazen

His biggest success so far is the overall win in the Tour of Luxembourg 2004. We asked Maxime about his crash more than a week ago in the Tour of Pais Vasco. He said “I still feel some little pain, but it’s going much better now. I have trained really well since Tuesday and hope to do well for the team on Sunday.”

Rik Vebrugghe (Belgium)  Photo c. Bart Hazen  

The most of the Amstel Gold squad will be riding as well, in the Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. With 2 riders in the team of Wallonne; namely Rik Verbrugghe and Maxime Monfort, The team is very motivated to do well in the three Ardennes Classics. With Cristian Moreni, Leonardo Duque and Sylvain Chavanel they also have three riders with a decent sprint if they are able to survive all the climbs and arrive in the bunch or a break.

Bingen Fernandez (Spain)  Photo c. Bart Hazen

Daily Peloton favorite Bingen Bustinza Fernandez of Bermeo, Spain in his sixth year on the Cofidis will be an essential part in the supporting the leaders at the three Ardennes Classics. Bingen showed good form in the early Spanish stage races this year and is also the owner of Yellow Jersey Tours that does cycling tours at the Giro and Vuelta, and cycling tours of  Tuscany and the Basque country.

The team of Cofidis for the Amstel Gold:
Sylvain Chavanel (France)
Nick Nuyens (Belgium)
Maxime Monfort (Belgium)
Rik Vebrugghe (Belgium)
Cristian Moreni (Italy)
Steve Zampieri (Switzerland)
Leonardo Duque (Colombia)
Bingen Fernandez (Spain)
More photos to come on www.cyclingfx.nl