Yates and Dumoulin join Nibali in the Fight for Pink
Simon Yates will be back, as Tom Dumoulin eyes a second Giro d'Italia title
Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), winner of the Italian Grand Tour in 2017, will target a second title in 2019, before heading to the Tour de France looking to do the double.
Dumoulin placed second in this years Giro d'Italia to Chris Froome (Sky) and second to Geraint Thomas (Sky) at this years Tour de France.
“We had the Tour de France for a long time in our head but the Giro d’Italia is such a nice course the coming year. I really love Italy, I love the course, and I love the race. So that’s going to be my main focus.” Dumoulin said.
The 2019 Giro d'Italia runs from May 11 from Bologna through to Verona on June 2.
Froome, launched an 80 kilometer attack on the Col du Finestre and rode away from his rivals including Yates, Nibali and Dumoulin and held onto to the lead in the final two stages.
Dumoulin dramatically won the 2017 Giro d'Italia, overhauling Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in the final time trial in Milan, hence the 58 kms of time trialling really suits him. There's a short opening uphill time trial, a 34.7km TT up to San Marino on stage 9 and the final 15.6km race against the clock in Verona.
Despite teammate Geraint Thomas chances, Chris Froome has announced his focus is a fifth Tour de France title.
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), two times previous winner of the Giro has already announced his focus is the Italian Grand Tour.
Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Mikel Landa (Movistar) and Miguel Angel López (Astana) may also target the 2019 Giro d'Italia.
Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) won three stages of the Giro d'Italia this year before sliding down the overall rankings, finishing 21st overall, however he went on to win the Vuelta.
“I’m looking forward to returning to the Giro d’Italia next year,” Yates said. “It’s a race I have great memories from but one which also left a bitter taste in my mouth, so I want to go back to try to finish the job off.
“The Giro is always an extremely difficult race and next year, with three time trials, it’s maybe not perfectly suited to me but we will still give it a real go and see what we can achieve.”