42nd Amstel Gold - T-Mobile Team Preview
The Magenta Squad of Valerio Piva brings a revitalized team to the to the Ardennes Trilogy starting with the "leg breaker" starting in Maastricht. Photos of the team on the day before the race.

"Though the race is relatively easy to read, it’s a real leg-breaker," says Sinkewitz. "It doesn’t matter if you’ve already raced here 100 times, it won't help you unless you've got really good legs."

Bart Hazen

T-Mobile will arrive in Maastricht with a very strong team for the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday April 22. The German based team will start with Michael Rogers (Australia), Lorenzo Bernucci (Italy), Patrik Sinkewitz (Germany), Thomas Ziegler (Germany), Marcus Burghardt (Germany), Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg), Andreas Klier (Germany) and Michael Barry (Canada).

Aiming for the podium -  Patrik Sinkewitz
Photo c. Bart Hazen

The team has several riders who can do well in this race especially Michael Rogers, Patrik Sinkewitz and Kim Kirchen. Rogers rode well in the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, Kirchen was already 2nd in the Tirreno-Adriatico this year and finished in the top 3 of the Brabantse Pijl while Sinkewitz finished 5th in last years Amstel Gold Race.

Kim Kirchen  Photo c. Bart Hazen

Furthermore, the magenta squad on solid ground with youngster Marcus Burghardt who won Gent-Wevelgem and did well in all the other races in Flanders as well.

Marcus Brughardt     Photo c. Bart Hazen

A part of this team will also be riding in the Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. According to the press the teams for Ardennes Classics, Burghardt, Klier and Bernucci will be replaced by other riders. (See T-Mobile release below.)

Leonardo Bernucci   Photo c. Bart Hazen

T-Mobile Amstel Gold Squad:
Michael Rogers (Australia)
Lorenzo Bernucci (Italy)
Patrik Sinkewitz (Germany)
Thomas Ziegler (Germany)
Marcus Burghardt (Germany)
Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg)
Andreas Klier (Germany)
Michael Barry (Canada)

T-Mobile Team
Sunday’s 42nd Amstel Gold Race
A week after Paris-Roubaix, the ProTour carnival moves north to the Netherlands this weekend for the 42nd running of the Amstel Gold Race (April 22), the 251 kilometre race that disproves the notion that the Netherlands are entirely flat. For the hilly classic, the first in the Ardennes Classics trilogy, the T-Mobile Team has nominated a solid and experienced line-up of classics' specialists and all-rounders.

Andreas Klier    Photo c. Bart Hazen

"We are bringing a well-balanced team with a lot of potential to be right up there at the business-end of the race," says sporting director Valerio Piva, who believes Michael Rogers, Patrik Sinkewitz and Kim Kirchen give the team options no matter how the race unfolds. Piva will be looking to the inform Kirchen in particular. "Kim impressed with his performances and podium places at Tirreno Adriatico and the Brabantse Pijl. Michael also rode solidly at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali," says Piva.

Michael Rogers returns with knee problems resolved. Photo c. Bart Hazen

Michael Rogers fit again after knee problems
Rogers suffered minor knee problems when he crashed at last week's Tour of the Basque Country, but after testing the knee in training he’s been giving the all-clear to start on Sunday: "It is still hurting me, but it won’t hold me back. I am fit and ready," says the Aussie.

Thomas Ziegler   Photo c. Bart Hazen

The leg-breaking opener to the Ardennes Trilogy
Patrik Sinkewitz is also bullish ahead of the season’s eight ProTour race. The German lightweight (63 kg) showed with his fifth place at last year's race that he has the right mix of climber and rouleur to thrive at the Ardennes Classics. ‘Sinki’ is eyeballing a podium place at his third start in Maastricht: "Though the race is relatively easy to read, it’s a real leg-breaker," says Sinkewitz. "It doesn’t matter if you’ve already raced here 100 times, it won't help you unless you've got really good legs."

Rounding out the eight-man roster in South Limburg are the all-rounders Michael Barry and Thomas Ziegler, and the cobbled specialists Marcus Burghardt, Andreas Klier and Lorenzo Bernucci.

Killer climbs
Amstel Gold Race doesn't have the cobbled mystique of the other Northern Classics, but what it lacks in cobbles it makes up for in short killer climbs. It is the cumulative effect of 31 small ascents, none longer than 2.1 kilometres and none with a gradient steeper than one in seven, which dictates the pattern of the race. Unsurprising, the Amstel Gold Race is usually won by an all-rounder who outlasts his fellow breakaways on the final series of poisonous climbs, culminating in the Cauberg.