In the World Tour race Volta a Catalunya starting on Monday, Lampre-Merida will take to the starting line with Durasek, Lloyd, Mori, Niemiec, Richeze, Scarponi and Stortoni defending the team colours with some optimism.

"The recent good performances by Niemiec and Scarponi allow us to approach Volta a Catalunya with the aim of being protagonists, especially in the summit arrival stages in Vallter 2000 and Port Ainé,” sport director Vicino explained. “Anyway, the whole race will be demanding, so the team reliability will be important. Durasek and Mori already showed they could be key riders and we'll also rely on Stortoni, who has performed well in training after he had quit Tirreno-Adriatico because of the low temperature and awful weather conditions. Furthermore, we’re very looking forward to the European debut by Lloyd and Richeze: their characteristics might be very useful for us in general and Scarponi in particular."