Richie Porte (Team Sky) will not ride at the Giro d’Italia his team have confirmed, instead focusing solely on supporting Chris Froome’s Tour de France bid.
The Australian had ear-marked the Giro as a huge goal for this season, but has suffered from illness and was forced to abandon his last two races – Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta a Catalunya.
And the British team – who also confirmed Sir Bradley Wiggins’ participation at Paris-Roubaix – have announced upon revealing their squads for the rest of this month, the Australian’s race programme for 2014 has been changed.
Head of performance Tim Kerrison said: “Richie was always going to ride the Tour de France this year but this now means that he can fully focus on being in the best possible shape without having the added challenge of having to ride the Giro as well.
“He played an invaluable role in our Tour wins in 2012 and 2013 and we want him to do the same again this year.
“We’re always reviewing our line-ups and looking how we can best support our riders and give ourselves the best possible chance for success.”
Porte will now ride Liege-Bastogne-Liege alongside Froome instead on Sunday April 27 – the first one-day outing for both riders this season.
Ian Boswell, Nathan Earle, Josh Edmondson, Pete Kennaugh, David Lopez and Danny Pate complete the line-up.
Boswell, Earle, Edmondson, Kennaugh and Pate will ride all five of the Ardennes Classics, with Geraint Thomas, Christian Knees and Ben Swift joining them for the Amstel Gold Race on April 20.
Lopez and Mikel Nieve replace Thomas and Knees for La Fleche Wallonne three days later, before Liege-Bastogne-Liege completes the programme the following Sunday.
Meanwhile, Wiggins will ride at Paris-Roubaix in an unchanged team from that which rode at the Tour of Flanders.
Thomas, who finished eighth on Sunday, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernhard Eisel, Christian Knees, Salvatore Puccio, Gabriel Rasch and Luke Rowe complete the line-up.
Speaking ahead of the Hell of the North, sport director, Servais Knaven, said: “We had a good race at Flanders and the team rode well.
“Of course, we would have liked to have been on the podium but we had some crashes along the way, so Geraint’s eighth place finish was good considering what happened during the race.
“We have a very good group here, they’re all working hard for each other and they did a good job getting Geraint and Edvald near the front. It was Brad’s first race in Belgium this year and he finished well so he can be happy with his race.
“Now we look ahead to Paris-Roubaix. We will see how everybody is feeling over the next few days and then decide our plans for the race. We have a lot of riders who are racing well so it’s a nice position to be in.”
Wiggins completes his month by then riding at the Giro del Trentino, from April 22 to April 25, with Dario Cataldo, Salvatore Puccio, Philip Deignan, Sebastian Henao, Kanstantsin Siutsoi and Chris Sutton.
For full details of Team Sky’s squads for April, click here.
