Oliver Naessen of AG2R La Mondiale will compete in his first Strade Bianche in Tuscany, Italy on Saturday.

"I'm very happy to be competing in Strade Bianche for the first time. It's a great opportunity. Usually it is held the day before Paris-Nice and I just watch it on TV.

"I have incredible memories of the 2018 competition, where Tige Benoot (then Lotto Soudal, now Sunweb) won ahead of (Nessen's AG2R teammate) Romain Bardet. I was sitting in front of the TV and super excited." I wish I could have been there for the race.

Nessen, a Classics specialist, finished second in last year's Milan-San Remo and will race the midweek Milan-Torino on August 5 before taking on the Italian one-day race once again on August 8.

"The next few months are going to be special, and I know things can still change, but the race calendar right now is perfect for me," he said of the race schedule, which has been changed to Strada Bianche and Sanremo from the usual March to the height of the European summer due to COVID-19.

"This is the perfect race calendar for me," he said.

"I'm happy with how we handled this long break," added the 29-year-old Belgian.

"I've done 20,000 kilometers since the beginning of January, which means I'm very happy.

"I prepared carefully for the absence of the race, keeping in mind the health crisis. I feel good, but there are a lot of uncertainties. For example, I don't know how fit I am, especially against my opponents."

Nessen will be joined at Saturday's Strade Bianche by his brother Laurens, 2018 Paris-Roubaix runner-up Sylvain Dillier, French duo Julien Duval and Dorian Godon, and American Larry Warbus (who recently signed a two-year contract extension with the team), along with Italy's Andrea Vendrame.