Milan-Torino, a mostly flat 199km race in northern Italy, will feature a showdown of top sprinters, led by Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alphavinil).

He is expected to face strong contenders such as Peter Sagan (Team Total Energies), Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroen), and 2013 winner Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), who will be looking for his first win of the season.

Cavendish has two wins in the 2022 Tour of Oman and the UAE Tour, bringing his career win total to 158.

This will be his first participation in the Italian Classic, which has been held in the fall for the past 35 years and in recent years has become a climber's race.

"Mark Cavendish will be on our card this Wednesday and he will be protected by a strong team and will fight for good results," said Davide Bramati, sport director of Quick Step Alfavinir.

Returning to the team for the first race of the season will be French road racing champion Remi Cavagna, who broke his L1 vertebrae after being hit by a driver while riding at a training camp in Spain last December.

He underwent successful surgery five days after the accident, which also involved teammate Mauri Vansevenin, who broke his thumb.

"We are very happy to have Remi back after his unfortunate crash during training camp. This is the first year he will wear the number and it will be a big morale booster to run with him again," Bramati added.

Mattia Cattaneo, Dries Devenyns, Michal Morkov, Pieter Serry, and Louis Verweke will make up the seven riders in Milan-Torino.

During the fourth stage of the UAE Tour last month, Cavendish and Molcov were traveling at high speed through the peloton as they passed a roundabout. Cavendish hit his right shoulder hard and also hit his head, but passed concussion protocols after the stage. He and Morkoff completed the seven-day race.

Milano-Torino is now positioned as a preparatory race for the season-opening monument, Milano-Sanremo, to be held on Saturday; first held in 1876, it is the oldest bicycle race in the world and was held the day after the UCI Road World Championships held in the spring for the first time since 1987.