Two-time Lombardy winner Philippe Gilbert will return the Italian race on Sunday with an eight-rider BMC Racing squad that also includes two-time runner-up Samuel Sanchez.
BMC Racing's roster also includes Darwin Atapuma, Damiano Caruso, Alessandro De Marchi, Manuel Senni, Dylan Teuns and Peter Velits.
Gilbert won the race in 2009 and 2010. His 2009 victory came ahead of Sanchez, who was racing for Euskaltel-Euskadi at the time. In 2010 he beat Michele Scarponi.
Gilbert appears to be in good form for the final WorldTour race of the season, having placed 10th at the World Championship road race last Sunday in Richmond.
Gilbert also earned two top 10 results at the recent World Tour races in Canada, finishing seventh at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on September 11 and ninth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on September 13.
Sanchez last raced at the Vuelta a Espana, where he abandoned during stage 14.
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USA Cycling hires landscape architect to help cyclo-cross promoters
USA Cycling announced today that it has hired a New England landscape architect to develop a technical guide to, among other things, help cyclo-cross promoters deal with mitigating damage to public parks that also serve as venues.
The issue surfaced last year when the national championships in Austin, Texas, were temporarily postponed over concerns about damage taking place at the park where they were held.
Landscape architect Josh Burgel will develop a guide that sets a standard for course layout, preparation and renovation.
Rice said USA Cycling is aware of the difficulties promoters encounter when dealing with parks departments.
"Communication between race directors, parks-and-rec managers, arborists and landscapers are critical to the health of this quickly growing sport, and USA Cycling endeavours to be a resource for all of these groups," he said. "As cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts, the love of nature and respect for our parks is important to all of us."
"My goal is to help navigate the sometimes treacherous landscape between a race director's goals and a park steward's mission," he said.
Trentin will lead Etixx-QuickStep at Gran Piemonte
Etixx-QuickStep will take the start line at Friday's Gran Piemonte one-day race with a seven-rider roster led by Matteo Trentin, who recently won a stage at the Tour of Britain and was third at Coppa Bernocchi.
Maxime Bouet, Gianluca Brambilla, Michal Golas, Fabio Sabatini, Carlos Verona and Lukasz Wisniowski will support Trentin in the 185km race, which is returning to the calendar after a three-year absence.
"It's a race with an up-and-down finish that probably will finish in a sprint," said QuickStep director Davide Bramati. "At five or six kilometers to go there is a short climb of 500 meters at five or six percent, that can put a bit of fire in the peloton.
"Matteo has had a super strong end of the season, with two victories at Tour du Poitou Charentes and a win at Aviva Tour of Britain. For sure he has shown that he can win if there is a sprint."
David de La Cruz was scheduled to start the race but will miss Gran Piemonte after falling ill, leaving the team with it's seven-rider line up.
"We will do our best with the collective we have for a good result," Bramati said.
