Tuesday 3 May 2016 13:59, UK
Team Sky have confirmed that Spanish climber Mikel Landa will lead their bid for a first Giro d'Italia victory this month.
The season's opening grand tour starts in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands on Friday and ends in Turin on Sunday, May 29.
Landa, who signed from Astana over the winter, will be supported by climbers Mikel Nieve, Nicolas Roche, David Lopez, Sebastian Henao, Ian Boswell and Philip Deignan, while Christian Knees and Elia Viviani complete the nine-man line-up.
Landa, 26, is one of the most highly rated climbers in cycling and won two stages of last year's Giro on the way to finishing third overall.
Team Sky beat a host of rival teams to his signature, but illness hampered the start of his 2016 season and he only made his first appearance for the British squad at the end of March.
Although he won a mountain stage of last month's Tour of the Basque Country, he was still short of form and could only finish 12th overall, but he appeared to be in far better condition when winning a stage and the overall title at the Giro del Trentino just under two weeks ago.
Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford told Sky Sports News HQ: "He [Landa] got a little bit ill in January/February time, but he has bounced back and he is just coming into form at the right time. He's an exciting prospect and a really big talent, so we are all very excited to get the race going.
"We are going there to try to get him on the top spot. It's not the podium; we are going to try to win.
"The last week is very hard, so the game plan for us is to really focus on that last week and play the long game."
This year's Giro contains five summit finishes, three individual time trials and seven sprint stages.
Viviani will be Team Sky's lead sprinter at his home grand tour.
