It would be wrong to think that Cannondale-Drapac is riding the 100th Giro d’Italia without a designated team leader; in truth they have nine leaders, with each of the nine riders alternating their roles and goals depending on the terrain of the 21 stages. They are nine mavericks, nine mercenaries, nine talented riders who are determined to leave their mark out on the road during the next three weeks.
Davide Formolo will target the overall classification and hopes to finish as high up as possible in the top 10 after slimming down and changing his training accordingly. But he will also go for stage victories if he sees a chance while riding as close as possible to the other overall contenders in the mountains.
Michael Woods, Alex Howes, Kristijan Koren, Tom-Jelte Slagter and Davide Villella will target the rolling stages, going into the breakaways and trying late moves in the hope of winning a stage.
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Pierre Rolland, Hugh Carthy and Joe Dombrowski are Cannondale-Drapac’s best climbers. They will help Formolo but also have the freedom to target mountain stages. The Frenchman has years of experience of going on the attack at the Tour de France. He could also target the blue climber’s jersey, while Carthy could challenge fellow Briton Adam Yates for the best young rider’s white jersey. Dombrowski is still searching for his best form after an injury-hit spring, but he proved last year that he can compete in the breakaways in the final week.
"We’re a team of attackers, we want to light up the race every day and try to win," Formolo explained to Cyclingnews with his natural confidence higher than ever after his strong performance at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
"Five or six of us can win stages. We all know how to race and how to move in the peloton. You’re going to see a lot of green argyle jerseys up the road this year. Last year we rode for Rigoberto Urán but he unfortunately fell ill. This year we've got more freedom. We don’t have a fully protected leader to worry about like some teams, but we’re actually stronger individually and so as a consequence as a team.”
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