Spaniard Joaquim Rodríguez is ready for the new season where he has made the move from Cassie d'Epargne to the Russian Katusha team. The Catalan rider has set his primary goal of the season to peak for the Ardennes Classics Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liège. Rodriquez took second in last year's Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and will be joining Amstel Gold Race winner Serguei Ivanov and former Columbia-HTC rider Kim Kirchen at the Russian team to form a dangerous trio.
The 30-year-old's season is set to start on the Spanish island of Mallorca at the Challenge de Mallorca, and will then take him to the Tour of the Algarve, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour of the Basque Country.
This year will likely see the former Caisse d'Epargne rider make his debut in the Tour de France, as it was one of the conditions for him to sign with the team. Katusha does not get an automatic invite for July's big event, but Rodríguez is positive about their chances. "I hope the organizers take into account the potential of our team and the strong performance from last year," he added.
2009 was a good year for the man they call 'Purito'. Alongside his second place finish in Liege, he also finished third in the World Championship road race in Mendrisio, was seventh overall in the Vuelta a Espana, and had stage wins in both Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta a Burgos.