BORA-hansgrohe opts for Danny van Poppel as sprinter in Giro d'Italia, Sam Welsford misses out

We continue with the selections for the Giro d'Italia! BORA-hansgrohe has now presented their octet in a post on X. Strikingly, Sam Welsford is not included in the team for the Giro, so it seems Danny van Poppel will be the team's sprinter in Italy.

"With Daniel Felipe Martinez, we aim for a top five finish in the fight for the pink jersey," explains team director Enrico Gasparotto in the press release. "He performed very well at the start of the season. Aside from his tumble in Strade Bianche, his preparation for the Giro has been solid. He trained very well in Colombia and we are optimistic that he will compete for a good place in the general classification."

Martinez for the GC (Lipowitz too?), Van Poppel gets many sprint opportunities

The German WorldTour team also sees many sprint opportunities. It was initially assumed that Welsford would be the lead man in those stages. "Some stages are anything but easy, with a climb in the finale. And that is just one of Danny's strong points. He is in good shape and with Ryan Mullen as the lead-out, we are in a good position for these stages."

"We are counting on Daniel and Danny as our leaders and many versatile stage hunters as backup," concludes the team from Ralph Denk. "It's not unrealistic that the race will be open to breakaways in the second and third week. But these stages are mountainous and therefore we rely on riders who can climb and achieve results." Giovanni Aleotti, Patrick Gamper, Jonas Koch, Tour de Romandie revelation Florian Lipowitz (from whom much is expected) and Maximilian Schachmann complete the octet. The Giro d'Italia starts on Saturday, May 4.

Selection BORA-hansgrohe Giro d'Italia 2024

Giovanni Aleotti
Patrick Gamper
Jonas Koch
Florian Lipowitz
Daniel Felipe Martínez
Ryan Mullen
Maximilian Schachmann
Danny van Poppel