The 11th edition of the GP Miguel Indurain arrives this coming Saturday, April 4, and for those one day specialists adapted more to the climbs than the flats, the GP is an ideal preparation race for the upcoming Wallonnian classics. The course is a challenging one, with multiple short, steep climbs throughout the race, while the route often crosses back over itself, allowing crowds to view the race several times.
In recent years the Germans have had their way at the one day Spanish trophy, but the 2009 edition promises some notable Spanish talent on hand to contest the win as well. "The Green Bullet," Alejandro Valverde will look to pick up a quality win for his confidence, as the Spaniard tries to ignore the swirling doping allegations surrounding him. Euskaltel-Euskadi meanwhile will bring the reigning Olympic road race champion Sammy Sanchez to the start line. Sanchez notched a win earlier this week at the GP Llodio, and he'll want to continue his winning ways as a prime base for bigger goals later on in the year.
Other solid Spaniards that will be in the mix include Fuji-Servetto's Juan Jose Cobo, and Cervelo's Carlos Sastre, who will want to test himself at the one month to go mark until the Giro d'Italia. Finally, Katusha's Antonio Colom will hope to continue his transition from that of gregario to team leader after a very respectable performance at Paris-Nice, where he took a stage win and finished 5th overall, less than two minutes behind overall winner Luis Leon Sanchez.
In addition to the Spaniards competing, there are several others who will feature prominently down the stretch at the GP. Last year's winner Fabian Wegmann will hope to win his third edition of the race, and his teammate Christian Knees will also look for a top result. The Italians bring a very strong selection of riders too, Including the Liquigas duo of Vincenzo Nibali and Roman Kreuziger. Both under 25, they are now recognized as protagonists in just about any hilly race they enter. Ronaldo Nocentini, Ag2R's one day specialist, will hope to hang on until the end to contest a small group sprint, while Fuji-Servetto's Andrea Tonti, if he gets the thumbs up from his directors, will try to use the element of surprise to attack at the right moment.
The Schleck brothers too will race together ahead of the hilly classics, and the older Frank will hope to come back from being recently sidelined with injury in a training crash. The Schlecks will hope to jump start the Saxo-Bank team ahead of the bigger classics, as Bjarne Riis' team has been relatively quiet for this point in the year. If not the brothers Schleck, perhaps one of Saxo's Sorensen brothers, Nicki or Chris Anker, will deliver the goods.
In what seems to become an increasingly important race year over year, the GP Indurain will reveal who some of the favorites will be for the Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege races. With a top quality field represented, the winner will have been the rider best able to combine great legs with shrewd tactics over all 191 kilometers of the Spanish race.
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