Team Katusha may have received an invitation for the Giro d’Italia at the 11th hour due to the controversy surrounding its WorldTour status but the Russian team is nevertheless aiming for a place in the top-ten despite the absence of its two big Grand Tour riders.

While Joaquím Rodríguez is concentrating on the Tour de France this year, and Denis Menchov has suffered a recurrence of an old knee injury, the Katusha Team heads to the Italian Grand Tour with neither of its tried and trusted Grand Tour contenders. In their absence the Russian team will be pinning its hopes on Yuriy Trofimov, who leads a team in a three-week race for the first time.

“As usual it will be a long, demanding competition, said directeur sportif Valerio Piva. “The Giro d'Italia is always one of the hardest races of the whole season, and this edition won't be any different.

“If you have a team with a rider that will fight for general classification, you must be focused from the beginning to the end,’ he explained. “The first part will be easier but there will be some nervous, dangerous stages, with hot weather, really different from what the riders found in this first part of the season; while in the last week the peloton will reach the Alps, where the overall will be decided, with Tre Cime di Lavaredo the day before the final stage.

“I think our team can obtain a good result,” Piva added. “We will have Trofimov as a leader, but also [Giampaolo] Caruso proved to be really in shape so we will see. We will have also many riders that can win a stage, such as [Luca] Paolini, [Maxim] Belkov and [Pavel] Brutt; we will attack and get in the breakaways as often as we can. So, our goal will be to win at least a stage, and to take a good final position in general classification. I think Trofimov can get into the top-ten, and I would be very happy if we manage to take this result.”

Katusha line-up for the Giro d’Italia:
Maxim Belkov, Pavel Brutt, Giampaolo Caruso, Vladimir Gusev, Petr Ignatenko, Dmitriy Kozonchuk, Luca Paolini, Yuriy Trofimov, Angel Vicioso.