Dumoulin and Matthews back in action at Tre Valli Varesine
Time trial world champion and road race medallist lead the line in Italy
Team Sunweb will head to the Tre Valli Varesine next week with world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin and road race bronze medallist Michael Matthews leading the line.
Warren Barguil and Wilco Kelderman are also named in the strong squad for the northern Italian 1.HC classic. The race is the first of the late season one-day races for the team.
"It's an exciting race with a tough, demanding finishing circuit. There's a big chance for a really tough final with small groups going up the road, but we can equally see a small group come into the finish for a sprint," team coach Aike Visbeek explained.
The race was won by Sonny Colbrelli last year with Barguil the best finisher for Sunweb. Matthews has been consistent in his one-day races thus far in 2017 with results such as fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, third at the GP de Québec and bronze in the Worlds road race. The race will be Matthews' first on Italian soil since Milano-Sanremo in the spring, providing the team with an option for a bunch sprint finish.
For Dumoulin, it is his first return to Italy following his Giro d'Italia win in May and Visbeek expects the Dutchman to be active in the race.
"We have a good group for both scenarios with guys like Wilco, Warren [Barguil] and Tom to be offensive and go with the moves; then we have Michael as a weapon for if the race looks like it will come back for a small group finish," Visbeek said. "So we have two very good options for the race and look forward to being involved."
Rounding out the team will be Laurens ten Dam, Simon Geschke, Lennard Hofstede and Sam Oomen.
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