BMC Racing Team is set to conclude the UCI WorldTour season by taking a strong eight-rider team to Il Lombardia this Saturday, 1 October.

Sports Director Max Sciandri highlighted the many cards that BMC Racing Team can play at the final Monument race in 2016.

“We are going to Il Lombardia with an extremely strong team and as a result of that we don’t have one clear leader. We have many cards that we can play and as we have seen in the past, it all comes down to jumping in the right moves. Alessandro De Marchi has showed strong form this week in Italy, as have Ben Hermans and Darwin Atapuma, and Samuel Sánchez is improving day by day,” Sciandri explained.

“It’s a harder course this year with a modified middle section and some tricky climbs thrown in. We’ll see what happens on the day and what is the best card to play, but I think we’ll be in for excellent racing.”

Two-time winner Philippe Gilbert will line up for his tenth appearance at the race.

“It’s hard to compare the races that I won to this year’s Il Lombardia. When I won it was still a nice classic and not so hard. Now it’s really hard and you can compare it to a mountain stage at a grand tour. It’s really a race for the climbers now with long and steep climbs, whereas before it was more open to anyone. We’ll have to see on the day but we’re lining up with a strong team,” Gilbert said.

Rider roster: 

Darwin Atapuma (COL), Damiano Caruso (ITA), Alessandro De Marchi (ITA), Philippe Gilbert (BEL), Ben Hermans (BEL), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Samuel Sánchez (ESP), Dylan Teuns (BEL).