British national time trial champion Alex Dowsett will make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia after being named in Movistar’s nine-man squad.
Dowsett moved from Team Sky to Movistar at the start of the season after the offer of a more substantial race programme and has secured his first Grand Tour start at the earliest opportunity.
The Giro starts in Naples on Saturday (May 4) and 24-year-old Dowsett, who won a second successive national time trial title in September 2012 before finishing eighth at the World Championships, will be one of Movistar’s key riders for the team time trial on stage two.
Movistar recorded two stage wins at the 2012 Giro courtesy of Fran Ventoso’s sprint victory on stage nine and Andrey Amador’s win on the first mountain stage.
The squad will arrive at this year’s race in search of similar success, while Beñat Intxausti, who finished eighth overall at last month’s Tour of the Basque Country, and 2011 Vuelta a Espana winner Juan Jose Cobo will carry the team’s hopes in the general classification.
Spaniards Ventoso, José Herrada and Pablo Lastras, Russia’s Vladimir Karpets, and Italians Eros Capecchi and Giovanni Visconti complete the line-up.
Team manager Eusebio Unzué said: “Taking one [stage win] this year would be really good and notching up two can only be considered as superb. I think we’re bringing a pretty solid squad, well balanced, with all riders coming in good form and having good chances.
“For the overall, I [will] rely on Beñat Intxausti and Juan Jose Cobo fighting with the top guns and maybe making it into the top ten. It might be just about time for Beñat – I think he’s ready, he’s got the experience and maturity he needs.”
Dowsett’s former team-mate, Bradley Wiggins, will lead Team Sky at the Giro, looking to added a second Grand Tour victory to his palmares having been crowned Tour de France champion in 2012.
And Unzué believes the title will be a three-way tussle between Wiggins, home favourite Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and defending champion Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp).
“The race route is not really different from last year’s,” added Unzué. The first half of the race is crucial on a mental side – you must not lose time on those mid-mountain stages.
“The second half has plenty of big climbs: Galibier, Lavaredo, Stelvio and the mountain TT might be crucial for the overall. My race favourite? Of course, Wiggins. Also Nibali, with his good form and his knowledge of the race.
“But I saw Hesjedal building up and getting stronger in the last few days, and I consider him as much favourite as the other two.”
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