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Fresh from the Tour Down Under, Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas will compete in the Tour of Qatar for Team Sky, which begins this weekend.

The Classics preparation continues in earnest at the Tour of Qatar 3-8 February where a who’s who of cycling’s hard men will look to string things out in the cross-winds. The next step following a successful Tour Down Under, all seven of the team’s riders in Australia - Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernhard Eisel, Mathew Hayman, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Chris Sutton and Geraint Thomas – will be joined by a debuting Gabriel Rasch.

Rowe and Thomas training in Australia before Tour of Qatar

The Classics kick off with an exciting opening weekend in Belgium and the double-header of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad February 23 and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne February 24.

Looking for a repeat of the team’s victory in 2010, the Classics group of Boasson Hagen, Eisel, Hayman, Rasch, Stannard, Swift and Thomas are joined by Salvatore Puccio at Het Nieuwsblad, while the next day Rowe and 2011 winner Sutton swap places with Puccio and Rasch in the Kuurne line-up.

Three days later Team Sky make their debut appearance at the one-day Le Samyn race February 27 with the Classics group taking to the start again.

You can find full squads for all of Team Sky’s February fixtures on their races page.