Sunderland Confident Ahead of Cobbles

Sport director Scott Sutherland thinks CSC we can win one of the big ones.

Team CSC should win one of the “big ones” in the spring classics over the punishing cobblestone roads of Belgium and France – at least that’s the opinion of Team CSC sport director Scott Sunderland.

The Aussie ex-pro helped steer Fabian Cancellara to an emotional victory in last year’s Paris-Roubaix and Sunderland said more big results should be on tap considering the way the team is riding coming into next week’s prestigious spring classics.

“When you have a big win like Paris-Roubaix, it’s hard to equal that but I feel confident,” Sunderland said. “I think a couple of our riders are even stronger than they were last year. We’re going full gas into the classics. I think we can win one of the big ones.”

Team CSC will start Tour of Flanders in Belgium on April 8 and Paris-Roubaix on April 15 as one of the top-tier teams.

Sunderland is feeling confident following a string of solid results in important races so far this spring, including second by Cancellara at E3 Prijs Vlaanderen and fifth for Stuart O’Grady at Milan-San Remo.

“Fabian and Stuart are going to be our big cards to play,” Sunderland said. “We have a real nice situation where we have some other guys who can be factors as well as help in the decisive moment. Last year, we had a lot of riders who were injured. This year we’ve had a pretty strong bill of health.”

Tour of Flanders opens one of the most thrilling and arduous weeks in cycling. The so-called “northern classics” bring out the best in bike racing, with huge crowds, torturous routes over cobblestoned farm roads and sometimes-horrendous weather.

Paris-Roubaix is cycling’s “Hell of the North,” held over beat-up cobblestone farm roads and is one of the sport’s most prestigious titles.

Ghent-Wevelgem is a mid-week semi-classic that typically favors the sprinters. Lars Michaelsen won it in 1995 and Argentine ace Juan José Haedo will take a shot at the race in his first year racing in Europe.

O’Grady and Cancellara will be the outright team captains with other riders such as Lars Michaelsen, Karsten Kroon and Matti Breschel playing the role as jokers.

“It’s going to be a sentimental week for Lars. He has a lot of family and friends coming in and he’s got a big dinner planned at the team hotel to help celebrate the end of his career,” Sunderland said. “It’s going to be a nice way to end his career with the classics.”

Sunderland said the level of professionalism and dedication has changed dramatically since his racing days in the early to mid-1990s.

“If you want to be good in April, you have to start training in November,” he said. “While guys who race the Tour de France are on the beach, the riders who want to compete in the classics have to be training at the top level.”

Sunderland is hopeful months of hard work behind the scenes will pay off in the coming week.

Team CSC for Tour of Flanders, Belgium, April 8:

Matti Breschel, Fabian Cancellara, Allan Johansen, Kasper Klostergaard, Karsten Kroon, Marcus Ljungqvist, Lars Michaelsen and Stuart O’Grady

Team CSC for Ghent-Wevelgem, Belgium, April 11:
Matti Breschel, Fabian Cancellara, Juan José Haedo, Allan Johansen, Marcus Ljungqvist, Lars Michaelsen, Stuart O'Grady, Luke Roberts

Team CSC for Paris-Roubaix, France, April 15:
Matti Breschel, Fabian Cancellara, Allan Johansen, Kasper Klostergaard, Karsten Kroon, Marcus Ljungqvist, Lars Michaelsen and Stuart O’Grady.