The countdown to the 99th edition of Giro d’Italia has started. The first Grand Tour of the season which will start in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, on May 6 and will finish in Torino on the 29th, is the most important event of the season for Bardiani-CSF that is ready to announce its roster.

The nine riders of the #GreenTeam selected by Roberto Reverberi and Stefano Zanatta will be Sonny Colbrelli, Stefano Pirazzi, Nicola Boem, Manuel Bongiorno, Nicola Ruffoni, Simone Andreetta, Paolo Simion, Giulio Ciccone and Mirco Maestri.

“During the last races we had the chance to check the real form of the riders, a key factor to make our final decision” explained Reverberi. “It’s never easy to make choices, all the riders did their best to earn the call, but we’re confident we have assembled the best team possible. The Giro d’Italia is our most prestigious race and we have already strong motivations to stand out”.

The Bardiani-CSF squad includes two Giro stage winners, Stefano Pirazzi (2014, stage 17, Sarnonico-Vittorio Veneto) and Nicola Boem (2015, stage 10, Civitanova Marche-Forlì). Pirazzi is also the most experienced rider of the #GreenTeam at the Corsa Rosa with six editions completed and the miuntains classification win in 2013. Simion and Andreetta, together with neo-professionals Ciccone and Maestri, will make their debut in a Grand Tour.

“We’re satisfied for what we did until today and with the approach we have had to the Giro d’Italia” said Zanatta. “During these months we made our choices considering this important event. The riders have the form we expected and we have a good balance between experienced and rookies. We need to be a solid team because every day we’ll have a goal: attacking. Pirazzi, Bongiorno, Ciccone will be the men for the climbs. Boem, Andreetta, Maestri and Simion the riders for mixed stages, while Ruffoni will be the leader for the sprints. At the end, we have the joker Colbrelli for finisseur or mixed stages. We’ll have fierce competition around us, and we won’t have fear to fight for a win. But being protagonist will depend only on our desire.”