Saturday's Il Lombardia means a change of Groupama-FDJ. With the absence of last year's champion Thibaut Pinot, 23-year-old David Gaudoux will lead the French team, while 36-year-old Steve Morabito will race for the last time.

Morabito turned pro with Phonak in 2006 and joined FDJ in 2015 after stints with Astana and BMC; in his 14-year career, he has won four races: a stage win at the Tour de Suisse, two stage wins at the Herald Sun Tour, and last year's Swiss road race He won the race.

He has ridden 16 Grand Tours, including being part of Cadel Evans' Tour de France winning team in 2011.

"I am about to experience the last professional race of my career. It's a passion I want to share with the young riders on the team and a motivation to lead the team to the best possible result," Morabito said.

"It would be great to finish in Como, but that is not my goal. But that is not my objective. I don't want to lose sight of our collective ambition of winning. My moment of glory is still ahead. My family, my two children, my fan club, my friends, anyway, will all be waiting for me on the road and at the finish line."

Even without Pinot, who has not raced since abandoning the Tour de France, Groupama-FDJ has great ambitions for David Gaudoux.

Gaudou, a former Tour de l'Avenir winner, has been in good form and drew attention with an aggressive ride in Milan-Torino on Wednesday. The previous weekend, he finished 4th in the Bruno Begueli GP. His frustration at his aggressive style not yielding good results may be mounting.

"I have a completely different approach to this 2019 edition than last year, when my job was to help Thibaut Pinot as much as possible. This year I have to be ready to fight at the finish because the team is counting on me," Gordou said.

"The team will serve me on Saturday. I don't want to hold anything back about the result. The level is high, but anything can happen. Lombardy is a cycling monument and I want to show my strength for this team of title holders."

Il Lombardia will ride 243km between Bergamo and Como, with the group shaken up by the climbs of Madonna del Ghisallo and Colma di Solmano, before a 5km run-down to Como and the decisive climbs of Civiglio and San Fermo di Battargia.

Gaudo is still young and inexperienced, but he has already proven himself on the Monument by finishing sixth in this year's Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

"Like the whole week, the race will be built around David Gaudot. Since the Gran Premio Beghelli, David has proven that he is capable of taking on new responsibilities at such a high level of racing. The whole team is very motivated for this challenge," said Philippe Maudouy, sport director of Groupama-FDJ.

"We are ambitious and aggressive. We are focused on finishing and being part of a big fight." As a first-class lieutenant, David will be able to rely on the very talented Rudy Morar, who has only shown good things this week.

"Next to him, it is a pity that Sebastian Reichenbach missed the Tre Valli Vallecine due to illness. And we are counting on five solid domestics who will make it their mission to get David as far away as possible and contribute to the group.

"Finally, a word to Steve Morabito, who will be starting his last race on Saturday. Before we toast to his new life, let's give him a big emotional toast."