Joaquim Rodriguez to challenge Philippe Gilbert for the 2012 Classics
Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha is seeking revenge from his Belgian opponent at the classics.
He rode brilliantly during the past season but was not good enough to match the lightening form of Philippe Gilbert.
The Spaniard secured the overall victory at the Vuelta a Burgos 2011 and also secured the points classifications, along with a stage 2 victory in the race.
Rodriguez won stages at the Vuelta a Espana, Tour of Basque Country and the Criterium du Dauphine in the past season, which folded a splendid season for him.
Joaquim’s only regret in the past season were the second place finishes at the Amstel Gold Race and the La Fleche Wallonne 2011.
Gilbert won both the races and many others to grab the top spot at the 2011 UCI World Tour rankings, with a total number of 698 points in his pocket.
Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador claimed the second and the third position with 574 and 471 points respectively, whereas Rodriguez secured the fourth spot with 366 points to his credit.
Philippe’s overall wins of the previous season include the first place finish at the Tour of Belgium, Ster ZLM Toer, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne, Clasica de San Sebastian and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec.
He also dominated the Montepaschi Strade Bianche, Brabantse Pijl, GP de Wallonie and a number of other podium finishes in the last season.
While commenting on his 2011 plans, Team Katusha rider briefed, "I was at 100 per cent, I was going really, really well".
"The only thing is that we came across a Gilbert who was really very impressive, but I think it will be very hard for the Gilbert we saw last year to be the same again this year and I'll certainly come back a little better again this year", he concluded.
Joaquim will also ride the Giro d’ Italia and the Vuelta a Espana in the 2012 season. He is currently fighting for the podium spot at the Tour of Oman.
The 32-year-old has secured the 11th overall position after the stage 2 classifications at the Oman race.
Peter Sagan of Team Liquigas-Cannondale is currently leading the overall classifications.
Gilbert opted out of the race because of the rising temperature in the Asian continent and the two classics specialists will ride side by side at the one-day races in the 2012 season.
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