Nicolas Roche will get plenty of time to test himself against the clock with two time trial stages included at the Tour of Romandie at the end of the month.
A change of race program means Nicolas Roche will not ride the Amstel Gold Race in Holland this Sunday.
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Originally due to line up at all three Ardennes Classics next week, Roche will now skip both Amstel Gold on Sunday and Fleche-Wallone in Belgium next Wednesday in favour of staying at altitude with his Tinkoff-Saxo team on Mount Etna.
"I prefer to stay at altitude and train more," said Roche, who has been based at the top of Mount Etna for the past three weeks in a bid to get some altitude training in ahead of an attack on the Giro d'Italia next month.
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"I will do Liege-Bastogne-Liege now and then I will ride the Tour of Romandie after that. I think a stage race like Romandie is better than a few one day classics for me to get fit for the Giro. After that it's all systems go for Belfast."
Roche's best ride in Romandie came in 2010, when he finished third on stage one and then took ninth place on stage two.
This year, the six-day Swiss tour begins with a 5.5 km prologue in Ascona on 29th April and, after four mountainous road stages, ends with an 18.5km individual time trial on May 4th.
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