Team Sky announce Giro d'Italia line-up - but where are the Brits?

Team Sky has announced its line-up for the Giro d’Italia, which starts in Liguria on Saturday – and has come under criticism on social media because none of the nine riders named is British.

Richie Porte, who wore the race leader’s maglia rosa and won the best young rider contest in the 2010 edition when he was with Saxo Bank, will spearhead the team’s challenge.

He comes into the race among the favourites, with victories at Paris-Nice, the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro del Trentino already this season.

The Australian said: “The Giro d’Italia has been my main goal of the season. I’ve worked very hard through the winter and am entering the race strong, healthy and up for the challenge.

“The competition will be tough, and obviously anything can happen in a Grand Tour, but we’ve got a great group of riders going into the race and we are ready for it.”

The team, with Austria’s Bernie Eisel acting as road captain, is very much built around Porte’s ambition to win the overall.

It features strong climbers Sebastian Henao from Colombia, Belarus riders Vasil Kiryienka and Kanstantsin Siutsou, the Spaniard Mikel Nieve and Leopold König from the Czech Republic.

Two Italians complete the line-up – Salvatore Puccio, who wore the race leader’s maglia rosa on Stage 3 of the 2013 race, and sprinter Elia Viviani.

Team principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: “Team Sky has had a great start to the year and we are going into the first Grand Tour of the season with a strong team, led by Richie.

“Richie is entering the race in good shape and with real focus and determination. He’s made a lot of small changes across a number of areas in his preparation and training this season after the illness that affected his performance in 2014.

“His results this season speak for themselves with excellent wins at Paris-Nice, Volta a Catalunya and Giro del Trentino.

“This is one of the biggest and toughest races to win in the calendar but we go to the Giro confident about the challenge ahead.”

Sky’s best overall result in the race came in 2013. When the race started in Naples, Sir Bradley Wiggins was aiming to add the maglia rosa to the yellow jersey he had won at the Tour de France the previous year.

But after Wiggins pulled out through injury halfway through the race, Sky’s focus shifted to the Colombian rider Rigoberto Uran, who finished as runner-up to Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali.

It’s the first time Sky have started a Grand Tour without a British rider, disappointing some on Twitter with comparisons even being drawn with Arsenal fielding the Premier League’s first ever starting eleven lacking an English player in 2005.

Across the team, however, there are actually more British riders than the six who joined Sky when it launched in 2010.

There are now seven, following Wiggins’ departure, several of whom featured prominently in the Spring Classics campaign and will figure in the squad supporting Chris Froome at the Tour de France.

Sky’s two Italian riders do make the Giro line-up – Sky Italia has previously been listed in Sky’s accounts as providing part of its title sponsorship, which is presumably still the case, although it disposed of its 40 per cent stake in the team’s management company to its parent company, 21st Century Fox.