Defending champions Giant-Alpecin have announced their line-up for Milan-Sanremo.

The first of the 'monuments' falls this Saturday with the infamous one-day classic, Milano-Sanremo in Italy. The race route features the classic hills with the key points of the race being once again the Cipressa and the Poggio, before descending down into Sanremo after 291km of racing. Unfortunately, the winner of last year's edition John Degenkolb will not take part as he is still recovering from the training accident in Spain.

Coach Marc Reef explained: "We have a strong line-up for Saturday with a few guys who are capable of handling the tough finale that Milano-Sanremo traditionally offers. We don't have the clear favorite for the victory and our goal will be to get the best possible result by keeping Simon [Geschke] and Tom [Dumoulin] well-protected for as long as possible."

LINE-UP
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Roy Curvers (NED)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Koen de Kort (NED)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
Zico Waeytens (BEL)