Evening headlines: Matthews and Brambilla miss Strade Bianche | More leaders unveiled for Strade Bianche

Michael Matthews misses Strade Bianche because of a shoulder fracture

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) won’t be part of the match at Strade Bianche 2018. The Australian suffered of a bad fall last saturday at the Omloop het Nieuwsblad and, after having spent few days off, he has realised the pain he’s been feeling is not due to a contusion but to a shoulder fracture. The twenty-seven years old’s fear is to be forced to miss also the Tirreno-Adriatico. In any case, Lennard Hofstede is going to replace Matthews at the Strade Bianche. Also Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) gives up and Nicola Conci will ride instead of the Lombard.

More teams unveil respective leaders at Strade Bianche

Bahrain – Merida and Quick Step Floors will both race in order to help two riders each at Strade Bianche 2018. The Middle-Eastern team will line up Sonny Colbrelli, who proved to be in an excellent shape, and Vincenzo Nibali, who always did well on Tuscan dirt roads. Quick Step Floors, instead, will deploy Philippe Gilbert, who finished in second yesterday at le Saym, and Czech Campion Zdenek Stybar, who won this race in 2015.

Astana lines up a competitive team for Strade Bianche

Astana will have plenty of shots in its locker for the Strade Bianche 2018. Former dirt roads race winner Moreno Moser will lead together with Oscar Gatto and Alexey Lutsenko the Kazakh team. Moreover, Italians Dario Cataldo and Davide Villella has already proved that they feel comfortable racing on Tuscan Roads. Andriy Grivko and Kruls Korsaeth, who showed to be in good shape, will complete the squad for the Italian classic.