"I won't do the Giro because the whole team will support Geraint Thomas" Elia Viviani confirms

Elia Vivian's has confirmed his absence from the upcoming Giro d'Italia whilst simultaneously giving away INEOS Grenadiers plan for the first three-week stage races of the year.

"I won't do the Giro because the whole team will support Geraint Thomas," Viviani reveals in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Skipping the Giro was planned from the beginning of the season, but in my heart I have always hoped for a change of program."

Geraint Thomas confident that INEOS can beat Evenepoel and Roglic at Giro d'Italia - "We will do everything we can to beat them"

A former five-time stage winner at the Giro d'Italia, Viviani's style of battling out for stage wins on the flat stages doesn't match up well with the INEOS Grenadiers targets who always prefer to attempt overall victory.

If Viviani is correct and Geraint Thomas is the man being backed by INEOS at the Giro, the former Tour de France winning Welshman will enter the race well supported by the likes of Thymen Arensman and the recent Tour of the Alps winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, a former Maglia Rosa winner in his own right.