John Degenkolb set to miss Milano-Sanremo as dsm-firmenich PostNL confirm their lineup for the first Monument of the season

After starting their season with stage wins at the Tour Down Under and the AlUla Tour, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL are now set to take on the first Monument of the season at Milano-Sanremo this weekend. La Classicissima was the first Monument win for the team, as John Degenkolb took the victory for the Dutch outfit in 2015.

However, Degenkolb is set to miss this year’s race for the team, as he chooses to focus on some of the Flemish Classics at the end of the month ahead of his return to Paris-Roubaix, where he won in 2015 and finished seventh at last year’s race after a crash on the Carrefour de l’Arbre cobbled sector.

With the German rider absent from the team’s lineup for this weekend, 23-year-old Kevin Vermaerke is set to lead the line for the team alongside Patrick Bevin. They will be joined by Pavel Bittner, Romain Combaud, Alex Edmondson, Chris Hamitlon and Martijn Tusveld.

On the team chances this weekend, dsm-firmenich PostNL’s sports director Rudi Kemna said “we will race aggressively and look for our opportunities from the breakaway and through that we hope to bring ourselves in a good position for the final, where Kevin will be our card to play. He showed some good performances already this year and comes out of Tirreno in a good shape”.