April 19, 2007 – 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.

“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 in-form 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. 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.

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.

“There’s hardly five kilometres of flat road on the whole route and that’s what makes it so difficult,” says T-Mobile sporting director Valerio Piva.

The Ardennes Trilogy continues next week with Fleche Wallonne (April 25) and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (April 29). (gl)

The T-Mobile race roster in brief:
Michael Barry (31/Canada), Lorenzo Bernucci (27/Italy), Markus Burghardt (23), Kim Kirchen (28/Luxembourg), Andreas Klier (31), Patrik Sinkewitz (26), Michael Rogers (27/Australia), Thomas Ziegler (26).

Sporting directors: Valerio Piva (48/Italy) and Tristan Hoffman (37/Netherlands)