Ineos Grenadiers have released their team for the upcoming Flèche Wallonne 2021 which takes place on Wednesday (April 21).
The team come into the race after showing exceptional form at Amstel Gold Race where they narrowly missed out on victory with Tom Pidcock in an exceptionally tight photo finish against Jumbo-Visma's Wout van Aert.
While Van Aert is taking the opportunity to rest, Pidcock continues his Ardennes Classics campaign at Flèche Wallone where he will likely be the main focus for the team after his stellar form at Amstel Gold as well as his win at Brabantse Pijl last week.
>>> La Flèche Wallonne 2021: all you need to know
But he is not the only rider in the team who has a realistic chance of winning as Ineos Grenadiers have brought a formidable line-up to battle on the Mur de Huy.
Adam Yates returns to the race for the first time since 2019, and makes his first Classics appearance for his new team of Ineos. The rider from Greater Manchester comes into this race with some excellent results after taking second behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) at the UAE Tour as well as winning the overall at the Volta a Catalunya.
Another potential leader for the team is Ecuadorian star climber Richard Carapaz, who has shown this season that he has superb form but he has not had the luck to go with it, with numerous crashes at races like the Tour of the Basque Country ruining his chances of being involved in the fight for victory.
Carapaz was one of the Ineos riders involved in the closing stages of Amstel Gold, playing a vital role in getting Pidcock up the road. Another rider in the mix at Amstel Gold was Michał Kwiatkowski, who looks to be back to close to his best at the Dutch race, going on a solo attack moments before Pidcock took off with Van Aert and Schachmann.
Kwiatkowski will be another important cog in the game plan for Ineos at Flèche Wallone as he could be used on the final climb or even go solo early.
Last year's Giro d'Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart is another strong name down to ride with this his third appearance at Flèche Wallonne. Geoghegan Hart has gone for the Ardennes over trying to go one better at the Tour of the Alps where he finished second back in 2019.
The two riders completing the lineup are vital riders too. Eddie Dunbar played the role of following all the early attacks at Amstel Gold where he looked strong. The Irishman suits the Ardennes down to the ground as a very punchy climber.
Luke Rowe is the final man on the list, the Welshman is likely the first name on the teamsheet as he is one of the best in the world at keeping leaders safe and in the right position at the right time.
Ineos Grenadiers squad for Flèche Wallonne 2021
Tom Pidcock (GBr)
Richard Carapaz (Ecu)
Michał Kwiatkowski (Pol)
Adam Yates (GBr)
Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr)
Eddie Dunbar (Irl)
Luke Rowe (GBr)
Tim Bonville-Ginn is one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter.
Bonville-Ginn started working in cycling journalism while still at school and university for a voluntary site based on Twitter before also doing slots for Eurosport's online web team and has been on location at the Tour de Yorkshire, Tour of Britain, UCI World Championships and various track events. He then joined the Cycling Weekly team in late February of 2020.
When not writing stories for the site, Bonville-Ginn doesn't really switch off his cycling side as he watches every race that is televised as well as being a rider himself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager.
He rides a Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on his local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being his preferred terrain.
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