Dubai: UAE Team Emirates have unveiled the team heading into the Giro d’Italia (6-29 May) with an exciting squad starting the race which begins from the city of Budapest, Hungary before crossing over to Sicily to begin the racing in Italy.
Leading the hopes the General Classification will be Portuguese talent Joao Almeida while Fernando Gaviria will lead the line in the of sprints. The line-up also packs multiple previous stage winners with Formolo, Gaviria, Richeze and Ulissi all registering victories in the past.
Almeida previously enjoyed a stint in the famous maglia rosa in 2020, finishing 4th on GC that year and 6th overall in 2021.
Special race
Almeida said, “This is a special race for me , I have great memories here and I’m excited to come back together with a great team looking for some good results together. The preparation for the Giro has gone really well. Since my last race I’ve been training at altitude in Sierra Nevada, Spain with some of my teammates and we have an excellent group assembled. Obviously, my aim is to do a good General Classification, but we also have Fernando for the sprints and many guys who have won here at the Giro before. We can’t wait to get it started.”
Team Manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Spa) will lead the squad alongside Sports Directors Fabio Baldato (Ita), and Marco Marcato (Ita) with Marco Marzano (Ita) joining for some stages.
The team is comprised of 8 riders - Joao Almeida (Por), Alessandro Covi (Ita), Rui Costa (Por), David Formolo (Ita), Fernando Gaviria (Col), Rui Oliveira (Por), Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) and Diego Ulissi (Ita).
Fabio Baldato (Sports Director) said, “We’re excited to be coming into the Giro with a strong team. Almeida will be our man for the general classification, and I think we have a team more than capable of supporting him. Gaviria is also back from injury and is looking good again, so we’ll have that card to play in the sprint stages. We have huge experience among our line-up, and we are motivated for what we hope will be a beautiful race.”
