Orica-GreenEdge have covered all bases when it comes to securing Giro di Lombardia success on Sunday, but their main hopes rest on the shoulders of three youngsters.
Simon and Adam Yates (both 23) join Vuelta a España star Esteban Chaves (25) will lead the team in the final monument of the year, which has been dominated by climbers in recent years.
But should the race take another turn, veterans Michael Albasini and Simon Gerrans are on hand to take up the challenge.
“There is a lot of pressure put on some pretty young shoulders with the two Yates boys and Chaves. We will be looking to those guys because we believe it’s going to be a really hard final,” said the Australian team’s directeur sportif Neil Stephens.
“The riders we are going up against are good climbers and they are fast as well. Our three guys are good climbers, but they are young and a lot of things can happen at this time of the year.
“The strength that we have is that we could potentially have three of them there in the final so communication between those guys is the key to our race.”
How much do the Yates brothers know about each other?
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Adam Yates has already proved his credentials in one-day races this season, having beaten a strong field at the Clasica San Sebastian and coming second at the GP Montreal.
Chaves, meanwhile, showed he can compete with the peloton’s best climbers at the Vuelta, taking two stages in the first week and wearing red for six stages on his way to fifth overall.
In Gerrans, Orica already have a Monument winner – the Australian won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2014, but his season has been blighted by crashes and injuries. Albasini, meanwhile, finished sixth last year in Lombardy, just a second behind winner Dan Martin.
Orica-GreenEdge team for Giro di Lombardia
Adam Yates, Simon Yates, Esteban Chaves, Simon Gerrans, Michael Albasini, Jens Keukeleire, Christian Meier, Damien Howson.
