Ivan Basso will lead Cannondale Pro Cycling at the 2013 Giro d’Italia.
The 35-year-old veteran, winner of the corsa rosa in 2006 and 2010, will spearhead the GC challenge of the Italian team.
Cannondale will also field burgeoning talent, Elia Viviani, but the team has gone to some lengths to point out that no pressure will be placed on the 24-year-old sprinter.
Directeur sportif, Stefano Zanatta, said Basso’s season had delivered the results expected for a rider building form solely for the Giro.
“He focused only on the Giro and we wanted him ready for this race,” said Zanatta. “After two difficult years, this time Ivan followed his program without problems or injuries. He did all he had to do.
“Now the roads will return the verdict, but not many riders are as tough and determined as Ivan.”
As expected, neither Peter Sagan, eight times a winner already this season, including at Gent-Wevelgem, and Moreno Moser, another glittering prospect and winner of Strade Bianchi, will contest the Giro. Both are likely to be selected for the Tour de France.
Instead, Cannondale has chosen Elia Viviani, the third of its young guns, to make his Giro debut. The race is expected to provide little more than experience for Viviani, who took his first WorldTour stage win last year at the Tour of Beijng.
“We’re confident in him but he’s not forced to win,” Zanatta said. “Elia is a young guy with a great talent: he will be free to race without pressure.”
Viviani is on record with his desire to win the opening stage in Naples, a seeming gift to the sprinters, and a golden opportunity for one of the fast men to start the race in pink.
The team’s two stars will be supported by a quintet of experienced domestiques in Tiziano Dall’Antonia, Paolo Longo Borghini, Alan Marangoni, Fabio Sabatini and Cameron Wurf, as well as two specialist climbers. Cristiano Salenrno won the king of the mountains classification at the Volta a Catalunya, while Josè Sarmiento won the same competiton at the 2012 Criterium du Dauphine.
Neither of the two Italian teams contesting this year’s Giro harbours a favourite with the bookies, with Lampre-Merida likely to field a twin-pronged attack with Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego.
Zanatta, said his squad would benefit from the absence of pressure that would be placed on the teams with riders more fancied for overall victory.
“Nibali and Wiggins, as well as their teams Astana and Sky, will have the pressure of being favourites,” he said.
“From our side, we need patience and to be ready to exploit all the situations. We know the Giro will be a hard challenge, but we don’t want to assume any results.”
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