Cancellara, Boonen headline teams for Milan-Sanremo
RadioShack, Omega Pharma-Quick Step name teams
The teams of Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara, two of the top favorites for the upcoming Milan-Sanremo, have announced their rosters for the race.
Omega Pharma - Quick Step has both Boonen and 2011 winner Mark Cavendish, who made claims recently that he cannot win La Classicissima - in addition to strong attackers Sylvain Chavanel, winner of stage 6 in Paris-Nice and Niki Terpstra.
"We have a good, strong team that can be competitive for each moment of the race," said OPQS directeur sportif Davide Bramati. "We have riders good for the sprint, and also to be present in the main actions, such as on the Cipressa and the Poggio, or even in a final if it does not come down to a bunch finish. The team is in good condition and really motivated after a good result after Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. We are ready to do a good race and to be protagonists."
RadioShack-Leopard's best bet will be 2008 Milan-Sanremo winner Cancellara after the withdrawal of its most promising sprinter, Tony Gallopin. The 24-year-old Frenchman expressed his disappointment via Twitter, saying that he is "sick and empty", but looking forward to the upcoming races in Belgium.
The team has its young Italian sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo, who took a close second to Theo Bos in a stage of the Volta ao Algarve last month as well as his experienced teammate Danilo Hondo for the bunch kick should it come down to that.
Omega Pharma-Quick Step for Milan-Sanremo: Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish, Sylvain Chavanel, Michal Kwiatkowski, Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra, Stijn Vandenbergh, Martin Velits.
RadioShack-Leopard for Milan-Sanremo: Fabian Cancellara, Danilo Hondo, Maxime Monfort, Giacomo Nizzolo, Yaroslav Popovych, Gregory Rast, Hayden Roulston, Jesse Sergent.
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