"Winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad definitely gives me more confidence going into the next races. I know my form is good so we'll see what happens," Van Avermaet said in a team press release.
Although Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is traditionally staged as the warm-up to the bigger Classics, it always shows who is starting their campaign in top form. Van Avermaet also proved that you don't need to be a pure sprinter to beat Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), who placed second in the final.
Strade Bianche will start and finish in Siena. The race will be 176km and includes 52.8km of off road. Van Avermaet was second to Zdenek Stybar in the 2015 edition.
Van Avermaet and Sagan have expressed their goals of performing well at Strade Bianche, and both will have support for their respective teams.
Van Avermaet will be surrounded by a well-rounded team that includes Brent Bookwalter, Damiano Caruso, Alessandro De Marchi, Jempy Drucker, Daniel Oss, Taylor Phinney and Manuel Quinziato.
"We're bringing a strong team to Strade Bianche this Saturday including Greg Van Avermaet on the back of his win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last weekend, so we're definitely motivated to do well. It will be a hard race but that's what we like," said BMC Racing Team Sports Director Max Sciandri.
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