Jelle Vanendert will use the Vuelta al Pais Vasco to finalize his preparations for the Ardennes classics.

"The Tour of the Basque Country is the final step towards the Ardennes Classics," he said. "As [sports director] Mario Aerts has pointed out, this is a very tricky race. I've never done very well, just because I have always done a lot of training for the Ardennes triptych at this time. If I see a chance to win a stage, I will take it but the main thing is to put the finishing touches to the preparation for the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. 

"So far the season has been very good to me. Apart from my crash in the Ruta del Sol my build-up to the classics has been very good. I have managed to do all the training I wanted. Only this week I had to change my schedule because of the weather. I've shortened the rides on the road and trained more on the home trainer. I am a rider who can peak at certain races. It is not easy to explain how I do this. I make sure that I have a very broad base condition and then I build further by intense workouts and races. Very often riders think that they can reach their peak just by training. I take a different approach, train a lot to hone my basic fitness and then do some races, like the Tour of the Basque Country next week, to be even better.

"It's never a guarantee that you succeed in your target race, but I feel good right now, two weeks before the Amstel Gold Race. Amstel, Fleche Wallonne and Liege have courses that suit me. In Amstel, I have finished second twice (in 2012 and 2014, ed.). On the Cauberg you can really make the difference and that is still the case when the finish line is located a few hundred meters after the summit. If you ask me to choose, I have a slight preference for Liege, but I will be very happy if I manage to win one of these races during my career."