Greg Van Avermaat and Matteo Trentin, the much-anticipated new partnership of the CCC team, will make their season debut next week at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, racing together for the first time.

Van Avermaert has long been a cornerstone of the team's classic division, and last year, when the former BMC Racing became a CCC team, he became the talisman of the entire team.

The team strengthened for its second campaign in Orange, with Trentin, a former European champion and stage winner in all three Grand Tours, the biggest signing. In addition to providing sprint and breakaway opportunities in the Grand Tours, he will share leadership with Van Avermaet in the classics.

The two did not know each other well, but will spend the winter at the team's training camp and will race together for the first time in the five-stage Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana from February 5-9.

"Our classic group knows each other well, and although Matteo is only joining us this year, he is obviously a strong rider and will add a nice accent to our group. [I can't wait to show off my new orange jersey. I hope to get back into a rhythm in this race and start working with my new teammates." Most important for me is to create a good group atmosphere so that we can work towards our biggest goals for the season.

Van Avermaert and Trentin, both stage winners at last year's Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, will lead the pack at next week's CCC along with key Classic members Michael Schaal and Nathan Van Hooydonk.

The CCC team will consist of seven riders, including Alessandro de Marchi, Serge Pauwels, and Victor de la Parte.

"The course is a bit different this year, with some very difficult mountain stages," said CCC director Valerio Piva, "and this will definitely be a point of contention for the overall win.

"I think Greg and Matteo will be the two big cards and I think each stage will play to the strengths of both riders. Overall, I have confidence in the riders who will be on the starting line. Also, this is the first time the core members of the Classic will be racing together, so we want to use this opportunity to test how we can work with each other.

Juan Avermato, who will start the season with a race in Spain for the fourth year in a row, added: "We are all very excited. We are all motivated and as always we will race to win, which is important, but the main goal is to test ourselves and see where we are after the winter."

"Some of the stages this year are sprint stages and some are really hard stages, so we don't have a complete advantage, but we will do our best and try to get as close to winning as possible on one stage.

The CCC team for the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Victor de la Parte (ESP), Alessandro de Marchi (ITA), Serge Pauwels (BEL), Michael Scheer (SUI), Matteo Trentin (ITA), Greg Van Avermaat (BEL), Nathan Van Hooydonk (BEL).