Britain's Bradley Wiggins is planning to build on his early season form when the Paris-Nice race begins on Sunday.
The Team Sky rider finished third in February's Tour of the Algarve after winning the concluding time trial.
The 31-year-old, who leads an eight-man team, said: "It's the first big World Tour race of the season in Europe and we'll look to continue the momentum."
Wiggins, who has three Olympic track golds believes he can win the Tour de France and Olympic time trial in 2012.
On the track, he won the 4km individual pursuit at the 2004 Athens Games, before repeating that win in 2008 and also claiming gold in the pursuit in Beijing.
However, with the individual pursuit not featuring at the London 2012 Olympics, Wiggins has turned his attentions to the road.
He finished third in last year's Paris-Nice, in a season that also saw him come third in Spain's major road race, the Vuelta a Espana, after breaking his collarbone during the Tour de France.
New Sky recruits Richie Porte, winner of the recent Algarve event, and Kanstantsin Siutsou will race alongside Wiggins in France, along with Christian Knees, Danny Pate, Geraint Thomas and Rigoberto Urán.
“Everything about this team is just snowballing and getting better and better, race after race”Bradley Wiggins
However, Briton Chris Froome, who finished ahead of Wiggins in the Vuelta, has not yet recovered from a chest infection and Xabier Zandio will come into Sky's eight-man squad.
"The new guys like 'Kosta' and Richie are all just slotting in perfectly," Wiggins said.
"Portugal was the first time we'd ever raced together and it was a brilliant week.
"Everything about this team is just snowballing and getting better and better, race after race.
"We're becoming more consistent too, it's more of a habit now.
"We've also got an incredibly strong squad at Tirreno-Adriatico which takes place around the same time as Paris-Nice.
"It's great to be part of it and I'm just looking forward to Paris-Nice now and my next few races after that."
Last year's Paris-Nice winner Tony Martin will defend his title while runner-up Andreas Kloeden is also set to take part.
Spain's Alejandro Valverde , who made his return to the sport in January after serving a retrospective two-year ban for his implication in Operacion Puerta , will make his first appearance in the race since a second-place finish in 2010, a result that was later erased from the record books.
The Movistar cyclist finished runner-up in January's Tour Down Under and then won February's Ruta del Sol in his homeland.
The world-class field also includes the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank , Levi Leipheimer , home favourite Thomas Voeckler and the likes of Tom Boonen andThor Hushovd .
Despite being named "the Race to the Sun", the Paris-Nice race is renowned for its often unfavourable weather conditions and numerous hills.
The 70th edition of the race, which starts on Sunday with a 9.4km time trial in the village of Dampierre-en-Yvelines just outside Paris, will see the riders travel 1,155km, with each stage including at least one categorised climb.
The eight-stage race culminates on 11 March with a 9.6km time trial that finishes on top of the Col d'Eze, which returns to the route after an absence of more than a decade.
