Giro d'Italia | Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux eye stage wins with quality lineup

Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux have been on a brilliant run of form during the spring classics, and are looking to keep it running through the first Grand Tour of the season where they have a quality-filled lineup capable of fighting for stage wins on most days.

Biniam Girmay will be racing with the team's number 1 on his back, and is a highly antecipated figure in what is his Grand Tour debut. The young Eritrean will be a main favourite to put on the pink jersey on the opening stage, and a candidate for a wide variety of stages throughout the race, ranging from bunch sprints to hilly-stage breakaways. He won't have a leadout train though, but some of the riders who will be riding in his support can have their own chances during the race too.

All quality rouleurs and classics riders: Barnabás Peák and Aimé de Gendt should be the team's main engine rooms to protect Girmay and Pozzovivo. Lorenzo Rota and Loic Vliegen will be very dangerous riders for the hilly stages, and strong contenders if they find themselves on breakaways.

As for the mountains, the team will be looking to protect Domenico Pozzovivo as the veteran comes in with the goal of finishing high on the overall classification. In his main support will be two experienced riders who combined have 23 Grand Tour presences, in Rein Taaramäe and Jan Hirt who wil likely be hunting for stages in the mountains aswell.

"In our first Tour of Italy last season, we achieved success thanks to the aggressive racing style for which we are known. We aim to keep this identity during the next three weeks. This is why we chose for a balanced team, which will enable us to fight for the victory no matter the terrain," team DS Valerio Piva said regarding the team's ambitions.

Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux for Giro d'Italia: Biniam Girmay, Aimé de Gendt, Jan Hirt, Barnabás Peák, Domenico Pozzovivo, Lorenzo Rota, Rein Taaramäe and Loic Vliegen.