Garmin Barracuda’s director of competition Allan Peiper has warned that he believes that the team’s Classic campaign will be a stronger one than that of 2011, when it won Paris-Roubaix.
“This year we will have a more bonded Classics team than we did last year,” he told VeloNation in the video interview recorded at the Tour de Langkawi and published below. “[In 2011] it was basically Cervélo and Garmin coming together. It wasn’t a team that had been built, but more a team that had been put together.
“I think this year we will have a better strategy and more clear lines going into the Classics.”
Peiper points to the recent Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as an indication of what it can do. He suggests that its strength is in the breadth of its talent, rather than it featuring one or two standout riders.
“Obviously after our win in Belgium at Nieuwsblad, the team is standing really strong. We have a lot of depth there for the Classics,” he said. “Obviously we don’t have a Hushovd, a Boonen or a Cancellara, but we have a really strong lineup where we can count on probably ten guys to make up the basis of the Classics campaign.
“Sep Vanmarcke can win and beat Tom Boonen, and I think with Johan Vansummeren backing that up, Tyler Farrar, Heinrich Haussler, Martin Maskaant, we have got a great lineup that could go to the finish quite a few times.”
Peiper gives further details of the team’s Classic lineup, as well as speaking about the talents on the squad, the Tour de Langkawi performance, Heinrich Haussler’s decision to avoid the Tour de France and more.
Click on the image below to watch the full interview, carried out at the start of the final stage of the Tour de Langkawi.