Peter Sagan (Cannondale) has chosen to extend his classics season which was originally scheduled to finish with yesterday's Amstel Gold Race. He will start Wednesday's Fleche Wallonne as joint leader with Moreno Moser and Damiano Caruso.

When Peter Sagan outlined his early-season schedule, he pointed to the Milan-Sanremo, the Gent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold Race as his major targets. After the Dutch classic, he would take a break before the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse would be his final build-up races for the Tour de France.

After his successful 2nd place in the Tour of Flanders, the Slovakian opened up the possibility that he might include the mid-week Ardennes classic, the Fleche Wallonne, in his program. Despite his disappointing performance in yesterday's Amstel Gold Race he has chosen to stick to his word, and he will be on the start line when the race kicks off on Wednesday.

The choice was a consequence of his own wish to expand his classics palmares.

“We decided to include Sagan in our Fleche line-up after he expressed his desire to race it and to give him the chance to experience it for the future," sports director Alberto Volpi explained. "The performance at the Amstel Gold Race was not so significant. The cramps suffered due to the warm weather were decisive. In Brabantse Pijl he showed great form and it can’t suddenly disappear. We think he will perform well on Wednesday but we won’t forget it’s his debut in this tough classic."

The steep finish on the Mur de Huy is the main characteristic of the race and even though Sagan is strong on shorter climbs, the slopes may turn out to be a little too much for the young Slovakian. Hence, he will not be the sole leader of the team and the team's original captains for the race will still get the chance to play their own cards.

" While Sagan is a new addition, Cannondale Pro Cycling had already aimed for a good result with (Moreno, ed.) Moser and (Damiano, ed.) Caruso," Volpi said. "Both have qualities and characteristics to stand out. We really believe in them, as well as in (Alessandro, ed.) De Marchi who has also raced well lately."

However, Moser and Caruso have not impressed in the Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race. They were expected to provide key assistance for Sagan in yesterday's Dutch classic but they were nowhere to be seen in the final part of the race. Instead Sagan only had the support of De Marchi in the final, and the lack of domestiques was probably the main reason for Roman Kreuziger's ability to hold off the peloton.

You can follow Sagan's debut in the Fleche Wallonne on CyclingQuotes.com/live.