The UAE Team Emirates roster for Strade Bianche is headed by Tadej Pogacar and Davide Formolo. For the Slovenian, it is his third participation in the Tuscan gravel classic, while Formolo was made his debut last year and made it to the podium.
Pogacar made his debut in 2019 and finished on 30th place at Strade Bianche. Last summer he was also present and he finished 13th, more than ten minutes behind winner Wout van Aert.
Formolo managed to finish second in his debut in Strade Bianche last season. He ended up thirty seconds behind Van Aert in the scorching heat.
“Last year I had an amazing day on the bike here and managed to finish second and climb on the podium,” said the Italian. “It was a really special feeling, also because it was shortly after the lockdown. It’s a race that suits me well and one I can do well in.
“I’ll start with less pressure this year as my condition is still building. Tadej is in good form at the moment and the idea is that we both make it deep into the final with as many teammates as possible. It can be an unpredictable race but that can play to our advantage on Saturday.”
In the hills around Siena, the leaders will receive the help of Valerio Conti, Vegard Stake Laengen, Marco Marcato, Jan Polanc and Aleksandr Riabushenko.
