Team Sky will take a strong squad to the first monument of the season as Mark Cavendish looks to win Milan-Sanremo for a second time.
Full squads named for remainder of March
Team Sky will take a strong squad to the first monument of the season as Mark Cavendish looks to win Milan-Sanremo for a second time.
The Manxman won La Primavera in 2009 and vowed to return to the Spring classic and claim victory upon winning the world championship in Copenhagen last season.
Cavendish lines up as part of a strong eight-man squad, three of which were team-mates of the sprinter when he tasted victory in one of the most memorable finishes in recent cycling history.
Those riders – Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernhard Eisel and Thomas Löfkvist – will be joined at the start in Milan by Mathew Hayman, Jeremy Hunt, Christian Knees and Ian Stannard.
Seven of the eight riders are currently competing in Italy at Tirreno-Adriatico - a race which has already yielded victories for Cavendish and Boasson Hagen - while Knees has been working hard in support of current yellow jersey-holder at Paris-Nice, Bradley Wiggins.
March momentum
The team will look to continue their winning momentum into the second half of March with strong squads for both mountainous stage races and cobbled classics.
Volta a Catalunya (March 19-25) marks the next stage in the build-up to the Tour de France for Bradley Wiggins, who can once again rely on a strong support squad, five of which are currently racing alongside him at Paris-Nice. Michael Rogers also comes into the team while Davide Appollonio will be targeting the sprint stages.
Dwars Door Vlaanderen (March 21) and newly-installed WorldTour event E3 Prijs Vlaanderen (March 23) will both see strong line-ups as Team Sky looks to continue their consistent run on the unforgiving Belgian roads. Juan Antonio Flecha is set to return to the fold in the former while Edvald Boasson Hagen will be present on the start line for E3.
Another of his stated goals at the start of the season, Cavendish will look to follow up his win at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne with success at sprinter’s classic Gent-Wevelgem (March 25), again backed up by a formidable list of team-mates.
That very same weekend Chris Froome will return to the fold at Criterium International (March 24-25), the Kenyan-born Brit backed up by a mix of strong climbers and young talent.
For the full remaining March line-ups take a look at our races page.
