Nicolas Roche will be in action in the Italian classic Strade Bianche this Saturday. He has been named in a strong Team Sunweb line-up that has every expectation of being on the final podium.
Nicolas Roche has been named in Team Sunweb’s line-up for the Strade Bianche one-day classic in Italy this weekend.
The team’s line-up has also been named for Paris-Nice, with Roche not on the team sheet.
That raises the prospect of him riding Tirreno-Adriatico instead in support of Tom Dumoulin.
Paris-Nice begins on Sunday and runs until the following Sunday; March 10th to 17th.
Tirreno-Adriatico begins three days later and is run over seven days of racing.
Team Sunweb has set out its rosters for its male and female teams up to March 12th.
The only race Roche is riding during that period is Strade Binache, which takes place this Saturday.
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Having ridden for BMC Racing last year, Roche joined Team Sunweb mainly to aid Dumoulin in the Tour de France.
However, since then the Dutch rider has said he plans to compete in the Giro as he believes it suits him better.
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He will still ride the Tour de France and Roche is still expected to be on the start line in July.
However, whether Roche will also ride the Giro d’Italia alongside Dumoulin is not yet clear.
Luke Roberts, Team Sunweb coach, said he was looking forward to bringing a strong team to Strade Bianche.
"The race has 60 kilometres of dirt roads over 11 sectors and last year we saw a real race of attrition with the weather,” he said.
“We have a debutant to the race with Sam (Oomen), who's in good shape at the moment and will be there with Robert (Power) in the final, who finished 5th here last year.
“This is also the first race for Kragh Andersen brothers together on the team, so it will be a special day for them.
“Alongside them we have Nikias as our captain and Nicholas to bring his experience to support this captainship, with Marc (Hirschi, U23 world champion) also making his debut on the WorldTour.
“This is always an incredible race and we're eager to get to the start line and make the most out of it.”
Team Sunweb, Strade Bianche
Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (DEN), Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN), Nikias Arndt (GER), Marc Hirschi (SWI), Sam Oomen (NED), Robert Power (AUS), Nicholas Roche (IRE).
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