Team Picnic PostNL coach Phil West: “Strade Bianche is always a tricky and highly technical race, so it’s important for us to be in the action from the very start. We have a group of riders who are capable of going for the early break, and that will be one of our key focuses in the opening phase of the race. At the same time, this race is also an important learning opportunity. With riders like Bjorn, who could potentially grow into this type of race in the future, we want to focus on key developmental aspects as well. We’ll aim to be represented in a strong breakaway early on, while also racing attentively from the peloton, using the experience as a platform to grow. We don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on the group, but there are fundamental race principles we want to execute well. From there, we’ll see where the legs take us. The most important thing is that we take valuable lessons from this race and build towards our next opportunities.”