So far the Northern classics have provided little reason to celebrate for Lampre-Merida but Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix will give the team a chance to settle that score.

 
Filippo Pozzato will be the captain of the team and he will rely on the support of Massimo Graziato, Elia Favilli, Andrea Palini, Alessandro Petacchi, Maximiliano Richeze, Davide Viganò and Luca Wackermann.

“Paris-Roubaix is a very demanding and selective race, the group of the pretenders is limited,” Pozzato explained. “I focused the early part of the season on three targets: Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix: I’ve got the last chance to be the protagonist, after missing hit the targets in the first two appointments. Of course, I’ll need to be more competitive than last Sunday [at the Tour of Flanders], because Paris-Roubaix must be approached with energies and a clear mind”.

The Lampre-Merida squad will spend Friday training on the most important sectors of the race: starting from sector n° 19 (Haveluy à Wallers), the blue-fuchsia-green riders will cover all the other sectors to the 4th (Carrefour de l’Arbre).

Pozzato finished 2nd at the Paris-Roubaix in 2009 and will be looking to improve on that result on Sunday.