Lobato and Valverde to lead Movistar at Milan-San Remo

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Movistar will line up at Milan-San Remo with last year’s number one ranked rider, Alejandro Valverde, and Juan José Lobato as its leaders for the first monument of 2015.

Lobato has had an impressive start to the season with wins at the Tour Down Under and Vuelta a Andalucía along with three top-five finishes at the Dubai Tour. The 26-year-old was fourth on his debut at Milan-San Remo last year and will start the race as one of the favourites for the podium.

Valverde hasn't ridden Milan-San Remo since 2006 when he finished 24th on the Via Roma which will host the finale of the race for the first time in seven years.

While Valverde hasn’t enjoyed the same successful start to the year that he did in 2014, with the 34-year-old registering just one win at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, he has finished on the podium on several occasions, including his last race, Strade Bianche and is likely to be animator in the final 50km.

The duo will first race the GP Nobili in anticipation of the 293km monument with the majority of their teammates to take part in both events.

Jasha Sütterlin and Alex Dowsett will make their 2015 debuts at the 1.HC race while Rory Sutherland makes his return to racing having broken his collarbone earlier in the season. Dowsett was forced to delay his attempt on the Hour Record after he crashed during a training ride in January and has been out of action since.

The trio have been selected for both races. New signing Winner Anacona, Igor Antón and Enrique Sanz complete the GP Nobili team.

Italian national time trial champion Adriano Malori has been selected for his second Milan-San Remo fresh from winning stage one of Tirreno-Adriatico. Ion Izagirre, José Joaquín Rojas and Giovanni Visconti are the other three riders to be selected.

Movistar for Milan-San Remo: Ion Izagirre, Alex Dowsett, José Joaquín Rojas, Juan José Lobato Giovanni Visconti, Alejandro Valverde, Jasha Sütterlin and Adriano Malori.

Movistar for GP Nobili: Alejandro Valverde, Juan José Lobato, Jasha Sütterlin, Alex Dowsett, Rory Sutherland, Winner Anacona, Igor Antón and Enrique Sanz.

Watch the video below for Cyclingnews’ top 10 riders to watch at Milan-San Remo and to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here.