Astana Pro Team has just announced its Giro d’Italia squad for this season which is set to start on May 4. This year’s second most important cycling event in the world will for the first time take place outside Europe.
Giro’s organizers have decided the first three stages to take place in Israel with the first opening one sending riders in Jerusalem.
Leading the team
Kazakh WorldTour Astana squad has now finally unveiled its eight-rider team with Colombian Miguel Lopez leading the other seven teammates. Lopez has been able to take two stage wins and also classify himself in eighth place in last year’s Vuelta a Espana indicting some impressive climbing skills and being among the favorites at this week’s Giro.
“There’s no pressure because I’ll be taking the Giro day by day, but obviously I’m thinking about the general classification. It’s a race that I’ve always liked. The Giro is really beautiful. I’ve always watched it on television but I’ve never been there before,” Lopez told Cyclingnews.
Astana Pro Team for @giroditalia :@PelloBilbao1990 @HirtJan
Tanel Kangert
Andrey Zeits@LLEONSANCHEZ @Davide_villella @AlexeyLutsenko3 @SupermanlopezN #Giro101#Giro2018#AstanaProTeam#AlgaAstana pic.twitter.com/6wFJ9REmdF— Astana Pro Team (@AstanaTeam) April 30, 2018
A couple of months ago, in the beginning of this season, Lopez was able to grab the queen stage’s victory at the Tour of the Alps. He took third at the said event and second at the Tour of Oman
