Piil preparing for Classics

Jakob Piil was to be part of Team CSC's Paris-Nice line-up, but a crash in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne meant that he now has to try and regain his shape in Tirreno-Adriatico, which started on Wednesday in Southern Italy.

"When I crashed, I knew right away I was in serious trouble," said Piil to the team's website, team-csc.com. "This was the worst thing that could happen right before the spring classics. Now my only choice is to try and make it through Tirreno-Adriatico or I won't get enough kilometres in the legs before the Tour of Flanders."

Piil is not riding the Italian stage race with high expectations. "For me it's just about making it to the finish, and I'm only using this race as training. The first part of the race will be very tough, but if I can make it through the first couple of stages, I can probably make it all the way." [Piil finished 175th in the first stage - Ed.]

Team CSC has several classics riders in their Tirreno-Adriatico line-up, and after a training camp in Tuscany dominated by snow and the cancellation of Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, riders like Piil, Lars Michaelsen and Allan Johansen are in need of some serious racing ahead of the tough spring classics.