BMC Racing Team aims at continuing their impressive season start when they line up several of their biggest stars in La Boucle du Sud-Ardeche and the Drome Classic this weekend. Cadel Evans and Samuel Sanchez will continue their racing in France after this week's Tour du Haut-Var while Philippe Gilbert will skip the Belgian opening weekend to race on the lumpy courses.

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois aims to carry momentum from Amaël Moinard's victory Sunday on the final stage of the Tour du Haut Var into a pair of one-day races this weekend in France. Ledanois said Classic Sud Ardèche on Saturday and Sunday's Drôme Classic provide a final tune-up for the riders who will be competing soon in some of the BMC Racing Team's key stage races.

"We know these races are important to prepare for coming objectives like Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and even Milan-San Remo," Ledanois said. "I have a lot of confidence in the team that we bring to these races."

Among those joining Moinard on the roster are Cadel Evans, who was fifth overall at Haut Var, Peter Stetina – runner-up on a stage at the Tour de San Luis on the way to eighth overall – and Samuel Sánchez, who made his debut for the BMC Racing Team at Haut Var.

"Samuel knows his objective race, Pays Basque, is coming and is important for him and the team," Ledanois said. "So this will be good preparation for him."

Philippe Gilbert will mark the start of his European racing campaign after spending the past two weeks competing at the Tours of Qatar and Oman in the Middle East. The past world road champion said he is not familiar with either race but he is looking forward to them.

"One-day races are my speciality," Gilbert said. "I am always suffering in stage races, so I hope to do better in these two races in France."

This year Gilbert has decided to skip the cobbled classics completely and will instead have complete focus on the Ardennes. This also sees him skip the Belgian opening weekend to instead test himself on the lumpy courses in France.

BMC Racing Team for Classic Sud Ardèche (March 1) and Drôme Classic (March 2):
Yannick Eijssen (BEL), Cadel Evans (AUS), Philippe Gilbert (BEL), Ben Hermans (BEL), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Samuel Sánchez (ESP), Peter Stetina (USA), Larry Warbasse (USA)