Joaquim Rodriguez crashed hard at the Amstel Gold Race and suffered through Fleche Wallonne, feeling the effects of some bruised ribs, but now it seems that is almost fully ready for his big goal this spring: Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Having felt much better in today's reconnaissance ride over the course, the Spaniard will now try to improve on last year's second place in cycling's oldest classic.

On Friday Katusha’s leader Joaquim Rodriguez and his teammates did a reconnaissance of the final 100 kilometers of the 100th Liège – Bastogne – Liège. 

"I feel much better than I did in the last few days," commented Rodriguez. "I still have pain in my chest because of my crash in the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday, but the pain is less than on Wednesday. The second crash at 4 kilometers from the finish of the Flèche Wallonne had no additional consequences. I was almost at a stand still when it happened.

"For the moment I don't know what to think of my ambitions for Sunday because today I did not dare to go full gas on the climbs as I still felt the pain. Our osteopath Hans Friedl treats me very well and he is convinced I can be good on Sunday.

"I hope so as well. If I can do a pain free Liège, I can show how hard I've worked for the last months. I won't give up. I never do."

The Katusha team will have the following line-up: Joaquim Rodriguez, Alexander Kolobnev, Daniel Moreno, Eduard Vorganov, Giampaolo Caruso, Dmitriy Kozoncuk, Angel Vicioso and Alberto Losada.