Luke Rowe: Cobbled Classics a gap to be filled on Team Sky palmares
22 February 2019 11:49
This time last year, Luke Rowe was, in more ways than one, thousands of kilometres away from where he is now. The Welshman began his 2018 season at the Abu Dhabi Tour, tentatively feeling his way back into action for the first time since breaking both the tibia and fibula in his right leg in a rafting accident the previous August. Twelve months on, Rowe lines out for Team Sky at the Volta ao Algarve with considerably more training miles banked over the winter and 13 race days already in his legs after an early-season stint in Australia. A year ago, simply pinning on a number at the cobbled Classics was a goal in itself for Rowe. This time out, his ambitions are rather loftier. “It’s chalk and cheese,” Rowe told Cyclingnews in Almodôvar on Thursday.ADVERTISEMENT “This time last year I started racing in Abu Dhabi but it was with that kind of comeback mentality. I hadn’t done a winter at all and I was missing thousands of kilometres compared to usual years. This year has been pretty plain sailing and back to normal with racing in Australia, so I’m definitely in better shape than twelve months ago.” Rowe ultimately succeeded in lining out at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in 2018, and surpassed expectations by surviving much of the winnowing process at the Ronde, only to be excluded by the commissaires for riding on the pavement on the approach to the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont. “The courses change a lot year on year, taking in different sections, so it’s good to keep your foot in the door, and even if I wasn’t all guns blazing last year, it will still help going into this year’s campaign,” said Rowe, who confessed that his disqualification from the Tour of Flanders still rankles. A gap in the palmares
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