Rowe’s Classics ambition

Strong showing at Abu Dhabi Tour ignites Sky Brit’s ambitions for the season ahead

Luke Rowe has told Team Sky’s top brass that he is ready to race the cobbled Classics later this month, after making his return to racing at the Abu Dhabi Tour following six months out with a broken leg.

The Welshman tested himself over the five stages of the Abu Dhabi Tour last week, his debut after last racing the Tour de France in July and fracturing bones in his leg while jumping into a river at his brother’s stag do in August.

“I’ll speak to my coach Rod Ellingworth when I get back to Cardiff, I’ll tell him, ‘I’m ready to rumble.’ Rumble where? The Classics. I want to go to the Classics, I want to race, that’s what I’ll tell him,” Rowe said.

“Maybe I could be back for the week of E3 Harelbeke and Ghent-wevelgem, maybe for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-roubaix, or maybe I could miss them all. I just don’t know.”

Rowe’s first success was returning six months earlier than planned, since doctors said he would be out of competition for 12 months. Next was an impressive debut, riding and forcing the first group onwards when the Abu Dhabi Tour’s second stage broke into echelons in the Gulf winds.

“I was heading into the unknown coming here. I took quite a bit of confidence from this race. I feel fresh coming out of it,” he added.

“It’s been a confirmation. It’s been quite reassuring — a sigh of relief. I thought I could have been a fish out of water and luckily, I could hold my own. I’m not fully back, but I’m not so far off.”

However, Rowe pointed out that under new UCI rules, team sizes in one-day races have been reduced from eight to seven. And Sky have a wealth of talent now compared to five years ago, with Ian Stannard, Gianni Moscon, Michał Kwiatkowski and Geraint Thomas. “It’s not like you just walk into the team, if you’re there, it’s for a reason,” Rowe said.