Jens Voigt has called on his Leopard Trek team leaders Andy and Fränk Schleck to ride a brave and aggressive race on Sunday, believing carefully controlled aggression at the crucial moment of the race is the key to beating Philippe Gilbert and the other big-name favourites.
Voigt is 39 and has been a professional since 1997, but he loves a fight and he seems to be looking forward to Sunday’s final major spring Classic.
Voigt went close to winning a memorable edition of cycling’s oldest one-day classic in 2005. He broke away with Alexandre Vinokourov and the two blasted to the finish together, but it was the Kazakh rider who won the sprint to the line.
He is known for his aggressive style of racing and encouraged the Schlecks to attack Gilbert on the Cote de la Roche Faucons climb that was added to the race route just three years ago. He believes it could be difficult for Gilbert to go with them because it is so steep and so they could then fight it out for victory with other contenders.
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and Cycling Weekly, among other publications.
