24 hours after his crash in Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race, Team Katusha’s leader Joaquím Rodriguez performed a two-hour-training ride after which he decided to take the start in the next WorldTour race, the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, April 23rd. 

Joaquím Rodriguez had to abandon in the Amstel Gold Race after 90 kilometres due to contusions at the left side of his chest. The bruised ribs are still painful but Rodriquez is optimistic.

“I spent a good and long night and our osteopath treated me very well, that’s why I decided to do this test,” said Purito Rodriguez. “The first 30 minutes were very painful, but afterwards it went better. The major problem remains the efforts on the climbs. There is a difference between performing during training and in the race. I am a bit afraid of the Mur de Huy, but we will see. On the one hand I feel it as an obligation towards my teammate and last year’s winner Dani Moreno to support him. On the other hand I feel I need this race to be at top level in Liège on Sunday. My personal ambitions for the Flèche are a bit lowered now. Anyway, I am happy that the injury evolves better than expected. I worked hard to be super this week and I hope all my training efforts are not wasted energy.”

In view of the injury sustained by Rodriguez last year’s winner Dani Moreno is expected to lead the Katusha Team at the mid-week Flèche Wallonne.

The Katusha Team line-up for the Flèche Wallonne includes the following riders:

Daniel Moreno, Giampaolo Caruso, Alexander Kolobnev, Dmitriy Kozonchuk, Alberto Losada, Joaquím Rodriguez, Angel Vicioso and Eduard Vorganov.