Joe Dombrowski not involved in Astana plans for the Giro d'Italia: “That was a team decision"

Despite having been expected to play a part, Joe Dombrowski has revealed he will not be involved in the Astana Qazaqstan Team for the Giro d'Italia with the Tour de France seemingly his focus instead.

“Normally I would now work towards the Giro, and I don't know if the decision is 100% final yet, but it looks like after the Tour of the Alps and the Tour de Romandie I can focus on the Tour de France,” explains Dombrowski before revealing that the choice was not one he had made himself. “That was a team decision.”

The 31-year-old American was a stage winner at the 2021 Giro d'Italia and admits he had expected to return to Italy this year. “I wondered if I was going to ride the Alps or Romandie, but they said I was going to ride them both. When I asked about the rest of my program, I heard that they wanted to take me to the Tour. So I will go on altitude training with the team in May," he explains.

“It is a more mountainous Tour this year,” he continues. “In the Giro there are a lot of time trials this year and there are a lot of sprint stages, so maybe that's why they changed it. Although I do not expect to be the leader in the Tour.”