With Matti Breschel and Matteo Tosatto both out with injury, Tinkoff-Saxo expect to play the role of underdog in tomorrow's Dwars door Vlaanderen and Friday's E3 Harelbeke. On Wednesday, the team will have a very young line-up while Daniele Bennati will lead the team in Friday's bigger race.

On Wednesday, it’s time to get the one-day cobblestone classics rolling and Tinkoff-Saxo are launching the campaign with Dwars door Vlaandern. The first 70 kilometers are rather flat before the peloton is challenged with 11 steep climbs and 8 cobblestone sections spread over the remaining 131 kilometers. Matti Breschel won the race in 2010 but the Dane is injured after a crash in Tour of Oman.

On Friday, the team will take on the second cobblestone semi-classic this season as E3 Prijs Vlaandern is on the program. The race is like a shorter version of Ronde van Vlaandern with steep and relatively short climbs throughout the whole race tapping the riders short of fuel. The race is usually the big dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders.

Tinkoff-Saxo line up at the races with modest expectations.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been experiencing a lot of injuries lately which naturally have an impact on our expectations in these races where our biggest hope was Matti", sports director Lars Michaelseb said. "So we’re taking the role of the underdog and if we can somehow find a way to get involved in the finale here, I would be happy.”

Tinkoff-Saxo for Dwars door Vlaanderen

Christopher Juul-Jensen, Jay McCarthy, Manuele Boaro, Marko Kump, Michael Kolar, Michael Mørkøv, Nicki Sørensen and Nikolay Trusov.

Tinkoff-Saxo for E3 Harelbeke

Christopher Juul-Jensen, Daniele Bennati, Manuele Boaro, Karsten Kroon, Michael Kolar, Michael Mørkøv, Nicki Sørensen and Nikolay Trusov.