Astana keep leadout at home whilst Mark Cavendish headlines Giro d'Italia lineup, focus on stage wins

Astana Qazaqstan Team are the 7th team to announce their lineup for the Giro d'Italia and it is quite an interesting one. As predicted Mark Cavendish heads to the Corsa Rosa in pursuit of a vital stage win, however he will not have the support of his team in the flat stages.

The decision to keep the Manxman's leadout at home is not the brightest sign ahead of the Corsa Rosa, after Cavendish struggled through the past few months. The likes of Cees Bol, Martin Laas, Gleb Syritsa, Davide Martinelli and Yevgeniy Fedorov have all been riding in support of the veteran over this season but none has been picked in the lineup for the first Grand Tour of the season.

Instead the team focuses on stage wins on the hilly days, their best chance. Although they lack another headliner they have several cards to play in the transitional stages, Simone Velasco being one of them, having been one of the two riders who has won for the team this year. Luis León Sánchez takes on his 29th Grand Tour.

Samuele Basttistella, Vadim Pronskiy, Gianni Moscon and Christian Scaroni will be targeting similar stages, whilst Joe Dombrowski whos' shown good form at the Tour of the Alps recently will be aiming for the mountain stages throughout the race.

Astana Qazaqstan Team for Giro d'Italia:

Mark Cavendish, Samuele Battistella, Simone Velasco, Luis León Sánchez, Joe Dombrowski, Vadim Pronskiy, Gianni Moscon, Christian Scaroni.