After Matt Hayman’s impressive win at Paris-Roubaix last weekend Orica-GreenEdge’s team director Matthew White expects good results in the upcoming Ardennes Classics.
Next up for the pro-peloton is the Amstel Gold race, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege; and with the Amstel Gold this weekend, White wants GreenEdge to continue their momentum into the races.
Michael Matthews and Simon Gerrans will be spearheading the Australian’s outfit chances; and if those two can produce their best, they will certainly have a chance of getting some good results in what are important races coming up.
White says it’s a ‘pretty exciting time for the team’ ahead of Ardennes Classics
It was a totally unexpected result for Hayman at the Roubaix velodrome where he beat Tom Boonen and Team Sky’s Ian Stannard to the line; but now the aim is for GreenEdge to continue this good run of form.
Speaking to CyclingNews, White said: “We’ve always performed well in the Ardennes so this is a pretty exciting time for the team, especially with the leaders we have.”
As mentioned Matthews and Gerrans will lead the team, but White said he had further ‘nice options’ as his team look to pick up more victories in the coming weeks.
The Australian team are able to call upon some really talented riders all year round; but with the nature of cycling, you just never know when someone is going to get injured; Simon Yates is currently a doubt for the first two races, but could come into contention for Bastogne-Liege.
“It is our strongest Ardennes squad we’ve ever had,” said White as his team prepares for Amstel Gold.
White wants to ‘win’ Amstel, as in the past three seasons, GreenEdge riders have posted top three results, so there is plenty of optimism that they can do it again. And then he admitted that he wants to be ‘very competitive’ in Fleche and Liege.