Team HTC-HighRoad's 2011 Paris-Nice winner Tony Martin will be at the center of the team's battle plan for tomorrow's legendary 2011 Liege-Bastogne-Liege Classic in Belgium.

"Tony will be our key protected rider and his teammates will do their best to keep him up there with the favorites on each of the cols (climbs)," Team HTC-Highroad sports director Valerio Piva told Roadcycling.com and our sister site Roadcycling.mobi.

"He's extremely motivated, he's in form and did very well in this race last year right up until the last part. However, he crashed at the foot of the Cote du Roche aux Faucons climb, just when he was with the leaders," Piva added.

"This year he's determined to put that right and of the three Ardennes Classics, Liege is certainly the race which suits him the best. The climbs are long, and we'll make sure he has a good position on important climbs like the Cote de Wanne and the Stockeu. After that, it's up to see whether he has the legs or not."

As at both Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallone 2011, rival Philippe Gilbert of Team Omega Pharma-Lotto is the top favorite for the win in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, so Piva concluded "The best strategy is to get in a break early on rather than waiting too long. If the favorites are all watching each other too much, that can be good for breakaways and without going crazy we have to take advantage of that."

Team HTC-HighRoad roster for Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2011:
Tony Martin (Ger); Matt Brammeier (Ire); Caleb Fairly (USA); Jan Ghyselinck (Bel); Craig Lewis (USA); Kanstantin Sivtsov (Byl); Tejay Van Garderen (USA); Michael Albastini (Swi).