With Milan-Sanremo tomorrow, Luxembourg rider Kim Kirchen of Team Katusha weighed in on his team's chances at Italy's most important one-day classic, Milan-Sanremo.
On a team with some potential La Primevera winners, Kirchen confirmed who their favorite is: “A guy like [Filippo] Pozzato has already shown that he will be the man to beat. He in great shape, needless to say. I feel the last few days, the whole team is really motivated and each guy [on the team] is impressive. I hope that all goes well because we intend to make the best race possible. I think we're the team to beat.”
When asked how his build up for the year's first big classic went, he replied, “Yes, the two weeks I have spent in Italy allowed me to complete my preparation. On Saturday it is one of the biggest races of the season and we will show you something.”
With a strong candidate for victory in the form of Italian Pozzato, the experienced Kirchen knows what needs to be done: “We await the briefing to talk about it. But I know what is expected of me. I'm here as long as possible to help Filippo [Filippo Pozzato].The goal will probably be to make the race hard enough to blow up the pure sprinters. We should approach the Poggio in a small leading group. I am confident we will take over the race when we approach the last hundred kilometers.”
He sees the race with several favorites and many of the same faces: “There are many [favorites] and from year to year they are the same. [Tom] Boonen, [Alessandro] Petacchi, Fabian Cancellara, [Oscar] Freire will try to win another. To achieve this, we must prevent falls and perform a minimum of mistakes. If we do nothing [don't drop the sprinters] then we're done.”