Michael Matthews, recovering from COVID-19, will make his Strade Bianche debut on Saturday. The Australian, who has competed in Paris-Nice in eight of the last nine seasons, will compete in Tirreno-Adriatico for the second time next week for Milan-San Remo.

"It's always been my dream to compete in Strade Bianche. In the past, I could not compete in the Strade because I always put all my training and concentration into preparing for Paris-Nice," Matthews said in a statement released by BikeExchange-Jayco on Wednesday.

"I'm really looking forward to starting the race on the iconic white roads up and down the Tuscan hills here in Tuscany."

In past years, Matthews has often delayed the start of the season until March, but he started his 2022 campaign much earlier, racing all five days of Challenge Mallorca in late January. His now customary February high altitude camp was interrupted by COVID-19, but he expressed confidence that his preparation for spring was not unduly hampered.

"We had really good preparation and everything went as planned," Matthews said.

"I just had a little bit of a break due to Covid while I was at altitude for training camp, but I feel good now and I'm looking forward to starting the next block of races."

Matthews returns to GreenEdge in 2021 after four years at Sunweb. He finished sixth in Milan-San Remo, fourth in the Amstel Gold Race, and second in the opening stage of the Tour de France, but for the first time in his career he did not win an entire season.

Sam Bury, Kevin Colleoni, Tsgab Gourmai, Alexander Konicev, and Matteo Sobrero will join the BikeExchange-Jayco lineup in Tuscany.

"We go into Strade Bianche with Michael Matthews as our leader. This unique race will be his first, but he has trained well for it and we are confident that his riding characteristics will allow him to perform well."