Kaden Groves looks to kick off Giro d'Italia sprints with a bang: "The team is behind me completely"

Kaden Groves is one of the main favourites for stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia. The Australian comes in in the lead of Alpecin-Deceuninck and in the absence of many of the peloton's fastest finishers he will certainly be one of the main options into the first bunch sprint.

“Everyone is still fresh. Fernando [Gaviria] and Mads [Pedersen] will participate and there are still some Italian sprinters such as Dainese and Consonni. We will certainly ride along as a team and take our responsibility," Groves said this morning at the start. "The team is behind me completely. We will try to control in every sprinter stage.”

The 24-year old has won two stages at the Volta a Catalunya and then also the Volta Limburg Classic. A rider who on his best day can climb quite well, he will hope to perform in more reduced sprints, but logic would dictate that on those days the likes of Mads Pedersen, Magnus Cort Nielsen and Michael Matthews will be bigger threats. On the pure flat finishes Groves becomes alongside Fernando Gaviria perhaps the fastest finishers.

Alpecin-Deceuninck will have weapons to support him including Ramon Sinkeldam in the leadout, which they hope to succeed with. “The final is pretty straightforward and not really technical. There are a few critical points in the last five kilometers, with some roundabouts and bends. It is also fairly straightforward," he concluded, having the finale memorized.