Giro d’Italia: Landa to lead Team Sky

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Mikel Landa will lead Team Sky in the Giro d’Italia, looking to bring the British team its first overall title in the Italian race. The Spaniard finished third in the race last year, behind Fabio Aru and Alberto Contador.

Landa recently took the general classification at the Giro del Trentino, also winning both the second stage and the mountains jersey. He attacked on the final climb, and held on to take the stage win by four seconds. On the final stage, he won the GC title by a mere two seconds, when he picked up bonus seconds for finishing third on the stage.

He recently told Cyclingnews that he is “in very good shape and very motivated. After winning the Giro del Trentino, my morale is very high and I’m ready to go for it.”

Elia Viviani, who won the second stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2015, will be the team’s man for the bunch sprints. He is also a candidate for the points jersey, which he wore for 11 days last year. The Italian has recovered from injuries he suffered when he was struck by a motorbike at Paris-Roubaix. While he is a contender for stage wins, he will also concentrate on helping Landa.

Also in the squad are Ian Boswell in his first Giro; Nicolas Roche - who finished second in the Tour de Yorkshire last weekend - climbers Sebastian Henao, Philip Deignan, and Mikel Nieve. It will be rounded out by super-domestiques David Lopez and Christian Knees, both of whom will be starting their 14th Grand Tour.

Team Sky for the Giro d’Italia: Ian Boswell, Philip Deignan, Sebastian Henao, Christian Knees, Mikel Landa, David Lopez, Mikel Nieve, Nicolas Roche and Elia Viviani