There will be a big turn out of British and Irish riders for the Ghent-Wevelgem race on Sunday in Belgium.
Mark Cavendish and Matt Brammeier will ride for HTC HighRoad with Daniel Lloyd (pictured below) riding for Garmin-Cervelo, Adam Blythe for Omega Pharma Lotto, plus the Team Sky Trio of Jeremy Hunt (pictured below), Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas.
Last year's winner Bernie Eisel is hoping to shrug off a cold so he can defend his title. "I was 100 percent preparing for the Classics, but I've had a very uneven build-up to these races," the HTC-Highroad rider said to his team's press office. "I got sick before the Strade Bianche race, then I got better again in Tirreno-Adriatico, then these last few days I've been really ill with a cold. I started feeling like I didn't want to go training, which was strange, but since Wednesday I know why, because that's when my cold really kicked in."
"I was a bit upset at first because every day when you go training after the previous year's Paris-Roubaix you're thinking and thinking about the Classics and then this happens. But the good thing is when I went training yesterday [Thursday] I actually felt ok. So my legs are all right, and today is the first day that my head is back where it should be and I really want to race these Classics all the way through to Paris-Roubaix again. "I'm sure I'll race Ghent-Wevelgem, all I have to do is keep on getting better and pray for good weather on Sunday!"
The riders will compete on a 201km course starting in Deinze and whilst sprinters have a history of doing well in this race, it is not neccessarily one for the sprinters and much will depend on the weather conditions.
Highlights of the race are on Eurosport.
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Alberto Contador continues to lead the Tour Of Catalonia after five stages. Contador has a 26 second lead over Levi Leipheimer,
Ireland's Nicholas Roche (pictured below) finished seventh on today's 213km stage from El Vendrell - Tarragona.
Pictures copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM