Scott Thwaites will "very likely" race Milan-San Remo for the first time with Dimension Data captain and fellow British rider Mark Cavendish next Saturday (March 18). The team is planning to give him the green light to race the Italian monument ahead of the cobbled classics.
Thwaites previewed the final kilometres of Milan-San Remo on Monday with Cavendish and Edvald Boasson Hagen, the leaders for the race with Steve Cummings.
"Scott Thwaites is on the list for San Remo, that's not going to be a huge secret," performance manager Rolf Aldag told Cycling Weekly on Saturday morning ahead of the Terminillo stage in Tirreno-Adriatico.
"He has the talent and characteristics for San Remo. It fits him to be part of the team and help us to success, hopefully."
Aldag said it is "very likely" the team will select Thwaites in its eight-man roster when the management meets on Sunday evening in Italy.
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The 2009 winner Cavendish will be one of three leaders for Dimension Data with Boasson Hagen and Cummings. The team needs multiple options in case the race does not arrive in a small bunch finish on Via Roma.
"We have multiple options for San Remo. We have different leaders for different situations. It'll be clear once we get out of the Poggio, counting the cyclists there and if Cav is there, we go for Cav,” Aldag explained.
“We won't bother with the escapes, just being ready at the key points: Cipressa, Poggio, Via Roma."
Aldag speaks regularly with the team directors in France with Dimension Data's Paris-Nice team. The cold weather and rain took their toll on the cyclists. As a result, the majority of the team could come from the central Italy group racing Tirreno-Adriatico.
San Remo will be another big step in Thwaites's career. Over the last years with Bora, he already had a chance to race the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. He placed 20th in the Flemish monument last year.
Dimension Data signed him over the off-season to ride alongside Norwegian Boasson Hagen so that it has multiple options.
"For sure, he was a key guy there. He's not going to be peaking for San Remo, but in the build up phase," added Aldag.
"There was a gap from Edvald last year in the cobbled classics. Bernie Eisel had a broken collarbone. Out of a group of 25, we should race with Boasson Hagen and Thwaites. Then we have much more to play with then just say, Edvald gambling it all on following Tom Boonen or whoever."
