{"id":52284,"date":"2026-04-17T13:07:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/?p=52284"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:35:21","slug":"trinca-colonel-to-lead-liv-alula-jayco-at-ardennes-classics-smulders-returns-to-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/trinca-colonel-to-lead-liv-alula-jayco-at-ardennes-classics-smulders-returns-to-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Trinca Colonel to lead Liv AlUla Jayco at Ardennes Classics, Smulders returns to racing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liv AlUla Jayco<\/strong> go into the upcoming Ardennes Classics<\/strong> with big ambitions, led by Italian climber Monica Trinca Colonel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 26-year-old has had a successful start to the season with an overall podium at the UAE Tour Women and top 10s at Strade Bianche and the Giro dell\u2019Appennino. She will take a leadership role for the Australian squad over the next week, particularly at La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne<\/strong> and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Amstel Gold Race<\/strong>, the team will also have options in home riders Quinty Ton<\/strong> and Silke Smulders<\/strong>. Ton took an impressive ninth place at last year\u2019s race and she arrives at this weekend following a solid cobbles campaign this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Smulders, the Dutch one-day race is the beginning of her comeback from injury after she fractured three vertebrae in a crash in February. She will provide valuable support across all three races as well as being a potential card to play in the finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Zealand climber Ella Wyllie<\/strong> and Australian all-rounder Josie Talbot<\/strong> will bolster the squad over all three forthcoming races, while Nadia Gontova will come in for Fl\u00e8che and Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the strength for Amstel Gold Race will be Letizia Paternoster, who made her debut at the race last year, with fellow Italian Matilde Vitillo joining the squad for Fl\u00e8che. The final spot for Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge is yet to be decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liv AlUla Jayco for the Ardennes<\/strong><\/span>
Monica Trinca Colonel (ITA) \u2013 All three races
Silke Smulders (NED) \u2013 All three races
Ella Wyllie (NZL) \u2013 All three races
Josie Talbot (AUS) \u2013 All three races<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nadia Gontova (CAN) \u2013 Fl\u00e8che & Li\u00e8ge
Quinty Ton (NED) \u2013 Amstel only
Letizia Paternoster (ITA) \u2013 Amstel only
Matilde Vitillo (ITA) \u2013 Fl\u00e8che only<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silke Smulders<\/strong><\/span>
\u201cTwo months ago, I broke my back. In the beginning, it was super scary with all the uncertainty and not knowing exactly what the recovery would look like. I took it step by step and tried to stay as mobile as possible with respect to the injury. I had good help from the team and physios. And just tried to do the best I can and listen to my body. It has been very hard and only I know from how far I have come.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am still not feeling 100% like myself, but I see these races as a big bonus and I am just really happy to be back with the team, my second family, and to start the most beautiful race of the year on home roads. There is a question mark about how I am going to be. But I think my knowledge of the roads and high motivation will be of great value for the team. I just want to enjoy being here and racing freely and helping the team as much as possible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wim Stroetinga (Sport Director)<\/strong><\/span>
\u201cWe\u2019re heading into the Ardennes with a different group of riders, and everyone is ready. We had a very strong team training camp at altitude, and for Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and Li\u00e8ge we have a clear leader in Monica. She\u2019ll be ready to fight for strong results there. For Amstel specifically, we have several options. The climbs are shorter, which allows us to use different riders in the pre-final and in the final. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Amstel we have Quinty and Silke, who know the course inside out, and that\u2019s a real advantage. It\u2019s great to have Silke back, she can be proud of how she\u2019s come through the past few months with all the setbacks and of the way she\u2019s handled her rehabilitation. She may need a little time to find her rhythm again, but we\u2019re confident she can already play an important role for the team.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Race Details<\/span>
Amstel Gold Race \u2013 Sunday, 19 April
Fl\u00e8che Wallonne \u2013 Wednesday, 22 April
Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge \u2013 Sunday, 26 April<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Sprint Cycling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liv AlUla Jayco go into the upcoming Ardennes Classics with big ambitions, led by Italian climber Monica Trinca Colonel. The 26-year-old has had a successful start to the season…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296,386],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52286,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52284\/revisions\/52286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}