Klier wants Wevelgem

After taking second spot on the podium at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, T-Mobile's Andreas Klier is looking to repeat his 2003 victory in Gent Wevelgem tomorrow. "For me to triumph once more at Gent-Wevelgem would be the icing on the cake. I feel very well," said Klier.

Klier will head T-Mobile's team of Classics specialists, though Steffen Wesemann will be absent after dropping out of Flanders with a stomach problem. The team hopes he will be sufficiently recovered to ride the next big challenge, Sunday's Paris-Roubaix. Wesemann is replaced by Bram Schmitz who has recovered fro the injuries he sustained in a crash at the Dreidaagse van De Panne, while Stephan Schreck will also skip Gent-Wevelgem to line up alongside Jan Ullrich at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

The team is completed by Rolf Aldag, Eric Baumann, Marcus Burghardt, Sergey Ivanov and Erik Zabel. T-Mobile team manager Walter Godefroot won Gent-Wevelgem in 1968 and will be the team's directeur sportif on Wednesday with Valerio Piva. He believes the wind will be a decisive factor. "At Oostende, there's often a headwind, which can be energy-sapping. After that the cross-winds are likely to tear the peloton apart," said Godefroot. Then there are the infamous cobbled climbs, including the 10 percent grade of the Kemmelberg, where the race came down to a final 12 in 2003.