Mosquera eyes start in mountainous 2010 Giro

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After his team made its debut in this year's Giro d'Italia, Xacobeo Galicia's Ezequiel Mosquera is keen to take on the mountains of the 2010 edition route, unveiled by RCS' Angelo Zomegnan last weekend.

The Spanish climber, who finished this year's Vuelta a España in fifth, attended the route launch and said that the difficult parcours would be a challenge befitting his characteristics.

"The 2010 Giro will travel to many mythical places in the history of this race: Mortirolo, Gavia, Zoncolan... I think it will be a very tough edition," said Mosquera.

"We shouldn't only take into account the mountains. The distance of the stages is also very significant. There is a 256km day, plus several others [six] that are also over 200km, and they're close together. In short, the average mileage of the stages is very high," he added.

With another time trial on the Plan de Corones in addition to five other mountain stages in store for riders, and Alberto Contador announcing it's unlikely he'll be riding the Giro, Mosquera was excited by the prospect of contesting Italy's grand tour.

"The prologue, the time trial on the last day and the team time trial, although the two individuals [time trials] are short. The mountain time trial would be better suited to my characteristics," he explained.

Mosquera's team will again rely on a wildcard entry for the Giro, although given his performances in the Vuelta and the the squad's animation of this year's race, there's a good chance the Galician outfit will be back in 2010.

"The mountains will decide next year's Giro. I could not ride this year's race and I would be delighted to participate in the 2010 edition, with all those mountains, of which I have heard but I don't know," said Mosquera.

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