Boonen's well-balanced squad contains two strong back-up leaders in Sylvain Chavanel and Niki Terpstra, both of whom have shown good form in the recent Belgian races.
The team will also have Stijn Vandenbergh, runner-up from the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and one of the riders who has spent the most kilometers in breakaways so far this season.
Gert Steegmans, Iljo Keisse and Michal Kwiatkowski will provide powerful engines to control the race for their captains, while former cyclo-cross World Champion Zdenek Stybar will make his debut in the race as a potential wildcard contender.
Boonen's rival Fabian Cancellara will be well-supported by former race winner Stijn Devolder, Yaroslav Popovych, who took 9th in Gent-Wevelgem, and domestiques Danilo Hondo, Markel Irizar, Gregory Rast and Hayden Roulston. The team's young rider Tony Gallopin, 24th in last year's edition and a part of the main chase group behind Boonen, will get a chance to improve upon that result.
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