Liège: Pellizotti, Di Luca & Garzelli for Liquigas

Franco Pellizotti will go to Belgium tomorrow, on Saturday, April 22, to take part in Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The 'Dolphin of Bibione', as fellow Italians call Pellizotti, decided to abandon the Giro del Trentino because of a muscular problem to his left quadriceps after crashing last Tuesday. Although he abandoned the short stage-race in Italy, he is likely to recover before Liège-Bastogne-Liège, his team announced.

Pellizotti's support may be paramount for Danilo Di Luca and Stefano Garzelli who will be the attack men for Liquigas in the 'Doyenne'. The team guided by Stefano Zanatta will also include: Patrick Calcagni, Kjell Carlström, Matej Mugerli, Vincenzo Nibali and Alessandro Spezialetti.

Meanwhile, Danilo Di Luca has finished a series of workouts and reconnaissances of the route of the upcoming Giro d'Italia and sounds confident. "The sixth place I scored at Flèche Wallonne allows me to be quite optimistic," Di Luca said. "Of course, we have numerous and dangerous opponents. We really need to keep our eyes wide open and to manage our energy carefully without underestimating anyone."

At the same time of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, another Liquigas squad will race the Giro dell'Appennino. DS Mario Chiesa will direct Italian champion Enrico Gasparotto and Eros Capecchi, Mauro Da Dalto, Francesco Failli, Roman Kreuziger, Nicola Loda, and Charles Wegelius in Italy.