Fabio Aru leads UAE Team Emirates - Giro d'Italia shorts

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UAE Team Emirates confirmed Friday their roster that will support Fabio Aru at the Giro d'Italia that starts on May 4 in Israel. Aru announced that he would target the Italian Grand Tour in February and has steadily improved his form in select races this spring.

The Sardinian climber was second in the 2015 Giro and will have support in his bid for overall victory from teammates Darwin Atapuma, Diego Ulissi, Valerio Conti, Manuele Mori, Marco Marcato, Jan Polanc, and Vegard Stake Laengen. Joxean Fernandez Matxin, Marco Marzano, Mario Scirea and Paolo Tiralongo will direct the team over the three weeks.

"Fabio is going to the Giro d’Italia with a huge desire to make an impact,” said General Manager Giuseppe Saronni. “This feeling of strong sentiment towards the Corsa Rosa will allow him to give his best in every situation. At his side are a group of riders who share the same emotions and are able to manage the possible scenarios correctly. Italians, four of them, give this roster a strong local flavour to honour the Giro d’Italia and give the most attention to our fifth Italian, the national champion in the tricolour jersey, Fabio Aru.

"The three non-Italians Atapuma, Laengen and Polanc have shown their love for this race and their ability to contribute enthusiastically to the group. And let’s not forget that these riders know about success, just think of the six stage wins by Ulissi, two by Polanc and three by Aru. And Aru has been on the podium twice. These are the details that can make the difference over three weeks of a grand tour even in the face of teams that look stronger on paper."

UAE Team Emirates for the Giro d'Italia: Fabio Aru, Darwin Atapuma, Diego Ulissi, Valerio Conti, Manuele Mori, Marco Marcato, Jan Polanc, and Vegard Stake Laengen

Movistar bring mountain-focused team to Giro d'Italia

Movistar announced their roster for the upcoming Giro d'Italia that highlights their intent to focus on the mountain stages during the three-week race. The race starts on May 4 in Israel.

The climbing-focused team includes Colombians Carlos Betancur, second in two stages of the Giro during his career, and Dayer Quintana, whose sole Grand Tour start was at the 2015 Giro. This year, Quintana won a stage of the Colombia Oro y Paz.

The team will also include Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, who was third overall at Coppi e Bartali, Argentinian Eduardo Sepúlveda, who had three top-10 finishes season-opener in San Juan, and Spain's Antonio Pedrero, who are all making their debut at the Giro d'Italia this year.

Víctor de la Parte and Rubén Fernández, both from Spain, have competed in the Giro once each, and Rafa Valls has lined up twice.
It is a young team with six riders aged 28 or younger.

Movistar for the Giro d'Italia: Carlos Betancur, Dayer Quintana, Richard Carapaz, Eduardo Sepúlveda, Antonio Pedrero, Víctor de la Parte, Rubén Fernández, Rafa Valls

Pozzovivo leads Bahrain-Merida at Giro d'Italia

While Vincenzo Nibali focuses his attention on the Tour de France in July, his compatriot Domenico Pozzovivo will take the reins at Bahrain-Merida for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. The team confirmed in a press release Friday that they will fully support Pozzovivo in his efforts to stand on the final overall podium.

"After last years’ 100th edition and a debut of our team Giro and our best rider, Vincenzo Nibali taking the third place on the podium in general classification, we are here again with highly motivated team to be at the start of Giro with a competitive team that is in good shape," said director Alberto Volpi. "We will try to be a team in every meaning, inside and outside the race because if you only race together, you can go trough and along the challenges, difficulties and demands and our priority is to be a strong team in every segment and to race as a team.

"The Jerusalem start will be challenging and requires concentration from the very beginning. Our riders are ready to compete, no matter that we are not one of the favorites for the GC and I think this is a gaining point."

Niccolò Bonifazio will focus on the sprint stages, Giovanni Visconti will eye the moderately hilly finishes, while Matej Mohoric will play a wild card role on the team in the climbs and for breakaways. "He will have space to do his best as he is a very talented young rider." 

The rest of the team includes Antonio Nibali, Manuele Boaro, Kanstantsin Siutsou and Domen Novak. Team manager Brent Copeland said they put together the best team possible for the three weeks of racing.

"Together with management and technical staff, we at Bahrain-Merida have put together a really competitive team for this exciting Giro d’Italia, as always the Giro is a very important race for our team and makes for some of the best racing of the season, for this reason we have gone out of our way to put together the best team possible in order to offer our fans and cycling fans in general some great racing, we looking forward to showcasing our team in another great Giro d’italia."

Bahrain Merida for Giro d'Italia: Antonio Nibali, Manuele Boaro, Giovanni Visconti, Domenico Pozzovivo, Matej Mohorič, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Niccoló Bonifazio, Domen Novak.

Trek-Segafredo looking for opportunities in Giro d'Italia

The USA-registered Trek-Segafredo squad will head to the Giro d'Italia with an international team looking for stage wins in the Italian Grand Tour.

The team's leader is Italian Gianluca Brambilla, winner of a stage in the 2016 Giro, who moved across to the Trek-Segafredo squad from Quick-Step Floors.

Brambilla will be joined by a mix of veteran and young riders, with Classics stand-out Mads Pedersen, 22, who was the runner-up in the Tour of Flanders, and Niklas Eg, 23, and Ryan Mullen, 23 representing the new generation of riders. The latter two are making their Grand Tour debuts.

The veterans include Laurent Didier, racing his fifth Giro, Markel Irizar competing in his 19th Grand Tour, Jarlinson Pantano taking on his third Giro and Boy van Poppel making the start for the fourth time.

General manager Luca Guercilena said the main goal is to support Brambilla. "I am confident our eight riders will make each other stronger and motivate one another to perform well as we also hunt for stage wins. I think we can be proud of our line-up for the first Grand Tour of the season."

Trek-Segafredo for the Giro d'Italia: Gianluca Brambilla, Laurent Didier, Niklas Eg, Markel Irizar, Ryan Mullen, Jarlinson Pantano Mads Pedersen, Boy van Poppel.