Belgian rider Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) (Image credit: www.ispaphoto.com)
With 2010 Fleche Wallonne winner Cadel Evans out of action with a quadriceps injury, the BMC team will be without a big-name team leader and so plan to ride a more aggressive race before the final climb of the Mur de Huy.
Evans injured his leg in a training accident three weeks ago and was unable to recover in time to be fit for the Ardennes races. Instead BMC will be captained by Greg Van Avermaet and Martin Kohler. Van Avermaet made a brave attack in the finale of Milan-San Remo but is still looking for his first win of the season after racking up a series of placings.
"Without Cadel, we will have a more offensive strategy throughout the whole race," BMC directeur sportif John Lelangue said in a statement from the team.
The BMC team also includes Mathias Frank, the USA's Jeff Louder, Amaël Moinard, Mauro Santambrogio, Ivan Santaromita, Johann Tschopp. The riders studied the last 60km of the route in training on Tuesday.
BMC also has a team competing a the Giro del Trentino in Italy that includes Alessandro Ballan.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
