Cancellara will target the prologue time trial in Apeldoorn with is eye toward winning the only Grand Tour leaer’s jersey absent from his palmares.
Cancellara has four wins already this year in what he has said will be his final season. He took individual time trial wins at Volta a Algarve and Tirreno-Adriatico, and he took a Spanish one-day race in January. His biggest win of the year so far came at Strade-Bianche, but he failed to add another San Remo, Flanders or Roubaix to his results.
Trek-Segafredo will also have early opportunities in the sprint stages, where Boy Van Poppel, Eugenio Alafaci, Marco Coledan and Jack Bobridge will ride for Nizzolo. Climbers Laurent Didier and Riccardo Zoidl will provide support for Hesjedal in the Mountains.
“We are coming to the Giro with big goals, but goals that we believe we have a very good chance of achieving,” said team director Adriano Baffi. “Our early target is to go for a stage victory with Fabian and Giacomo. Giacomo deserves a victory, he has been second enough times, and Fabian will try and win the first stage prologue and the dream to take home his first ever maglia rosa.”
Baffi said Cancellara also as a shot at the stage 9 time trial, as does Bobridge, while there are numerous sprint opportunities in the fight for the points jersey.
“Of course, Ryder is aiming for the overall, and we strongly believe he can attain a top five and perhaps the podium if all goes well,” Baffi said. “We have a very strong team assembled and it will be a very exciting three weeks for us."
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Trek-Segafredo for the Giro d’Italia: Fabian Cancellara, Giacomo Nizzolo, Ryder Hesjedal, Riccardo Zoidl, Jack Bobridge, Boy Van Poppel, Eugenio Alafaci, Marco Coledan and Laurent Didier.
