Van Avermaet to lead BMC in Milan - San Remo

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Belgian sprinter Greg Van Avermaet will lead BMC Racing's charge at this weekend's Milan-San Remo, as another American squad, Team RadioShack, also announced its lineup for La Primavera.

Alessandro Ballan, who has enjoyed solid form at Tirreno-Adriatico in support of overall leader Cadel Evans, will be another spearhead of BMC Racing's push in the 298km Classic, forming a two-pronged attack with the 25-year-old Belgian, who made the switch to Jim Ochowicz's team from the Omega Pharma-Lotto squad in the off-season.

He has enjoyed a solid lead up to the first Monument of the season, with a top 10 finish in the Italian classic, Strade Bianche, on March 5 before taking sixth on the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

One of his former teammates, Phillipe Gilbert, will go into Saturday's race as one of the favourites after picking up a stage win in Tirreno-Adriatico and featuring throughout the week. A crash in training for André Greipel means Gilbert will likely be the Belgian team's number one in the possible absence of its German sprinter.

Meanwile, RadioShack will take two experienced sprinters in Robbie Hunter and Robbie McEwen to Milan-San Remo, with the latter having experienced a quiet preparation for one of his perennial season goals.

Hunter has settled into life at RadioShack well after making a last-minute switch to the team following the collapse of Pegasus Sports earlier this year. Like BMC Racing's Van Avermaet and Ballan this race-proven pair will form a formidable attack in an event with which both riders are very familiar.

BMC Racing for Milan-San Remo: Alessandro Ballan, Marcus Burghardt, George Hincapie, Karsten Kroon, Manuel Quinziato, Michael Schär, Greg Van Avermaet, Danilo Wyss

Team RadioShack for Milan-San Remo: Manuel Cardoso, Robert Hunter, Geoffroy Lequatre, Robbie McEwen, Dmitriy Muravyev, Yaroslav Popovych, Grégory Rast, Sébastien Rosseler