Don`t be surprised if you don`t see much as usual of Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) this spring. However, when it comes to scaling Mount Etna in the first week of the Giro d`Italia, it could be another story altogether. The 30-year-old Cannondale-Drapac pro will be doing races like Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya, which he led back in 2015, and has just completed the Ruta del Sol. In all of these, he`ll do his best to shine. But this spring there`s no Romandie on his program, for example, which has been on his race schedule since 2011, or the Ardennes Classics or Pais Vasco, all of which have featured regularly for Rolland. With the centrepiece of his year a Giro-Tour double, where - as the French climber told Cyclingnews this December - he`ll be focussing on stage wins, Rolland may well not be as high-profile in the spring as he tends to be.ADVERTISEMENT `I also expect to do something in Paris-Nice, because that`s a very important race, and I`ll ride in the Volta a Catalunya as well, but that period`s not the crucial one,` he told Cyclingnews during the Ruta del Sol, his first race of the season. `The really big goal will be to be up there in the Giro d`Italia and then still be fresh in the Tour de France.` It will be a `very different approach`, he says, to the Giro in particular, where he last raced in 2014, taking fourth overall, `with only about 20 days racing in total`. The change in strategy is one based both on doing the Giro-Tour double for the first time since 2014 and on his and his team`s joint decision that he avoid going for the GC in stage races in general. Instead, breaks will be his raison d`etre in both Grand Tours.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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