The Astana team will be built around Australian sprinter Allan Davis in the Milano-Sanremo on Saturday. The Commonwealth champion, and Worlds bronze medalist, has had mixed fortunes in la Primavera but finished a best ever second in 2007, behind Oscar Freire as the Spaniard took his second of three victories so far.
Davis also finished fourth in 2009, behind Mark Cavendish, Heinrich Haussler and Thor Hushovd.
While he has had some good results in Sanremo however, Davis has also fared badly in the race. Last year he finished in a group 10’07” behind Freire, although he has generally found himself in the front group in the finale but not been in position to sprint for the victory.
The majority of the team will be made up of those who have been supporting Davis in Tirreno-Adriatico, including 24-year-old Simon Clarke, who finished the race in 15th place after racing aggressively throughout; only Andriy Grivko and Tomas Vaitkus rode Paris-Nice, instead of the race of the two seas.
Also likely to be looking for a result will be Enrico Gasparotto, one of the two Italians the team is taking to the race, and Maxim Iglinskiy. Gasparotto finished 13th in the race last year, while Iglinskiy finshed eighth.
Astana team for Milano-Sanremo:
Allan Davis, Assan Bazayev, Simon Clarke, Enrico Gasparotto, Andriy Grivko, Maxim Iglinskiy, Mirco Lorenzetto and Tomas Vaitkus.