In the weekend, Team LAMPRE-MERIDA will not only be in Spain for the start of the Vuelta, but on Sunday it will take part in the Vattenfall Cyclassics Hamburg.

For the German race (221.3km), sports director Simone Pedrazzini will rely on 8 riders who'll try to add another victory after the last blue-fuchsia-green success (2007, Alessandro Ballan).

These are the riders in the selection of the team: Niccolò Bonifazio, Matteo Bono, Davide Cimolai, Chun Kai Feng, Manuele Mori, Luka Pibernik, Jan Polanc and Diego Ulissi.

"In the past editions, the victory was decded in a sprint, a solution in which we'll be competitive thanks to Cimolai and Bonifazio, who will rely on the support of Pibernik," sports director Pedrazzini explained. "Probably there could be breakaway in the first part of the race and attacks in the final laps: we'll be ready thanks to Ulissi, Feng and Polanc. Mori and Bono will be key athletes for handling the various situations in the race".