After the spring classics season, the two marquee sprinters of Team Giant-Shimano will make their return to action this week. Marcel Kittel will use the mountainous Tour de Romandie to gear up for his first ever Giro d'Italia while John Degenkolb has set his sights on a home win in the Rund um den Finanzplatz.

It will be Kittel's final race before the Giro d'Italia and he is joined by his trusty lead-out man, Tom Veelers as well as a strong, experienced team.

The race features two individual time trials and Tobias Ludvigsson will be eager to perform well in these, providing he is fully recovered from the ankle problems he had in Sarthe. Stages one and three feature mountain passes en-route, with the third being particularly hard with four first category climbs to get over.

"Our goal for the Tour de Romandie is to go for the sprints with Marcel and Luka and to also finish preparing the form before the Giro d'Italia," said coach Lionel Marie.

"On paper there are a few opportunities where we could see bunch sprints and we will focus on these but Romandie is a hard race so we will be flexible. Luka has come on a long way this year and it will be a good opportunity for him to race with Marcel again and keep learning as he continues to develop his sprinting skills.

"Tobias will also be looking to test himself in the time trials against some of the best in the World. He had a few problems in France last week so there is no pressure on him.

"The goal for Georg Preidler is also to get back into race rhythm after having some knee problems too, and although it's a hard race it will be good for him to get back up to speed and see how his shape is."

New Dutch rider to the squad, Brian Bulgac will line-up for his first race in Team Giant-Shimano colours as he steps back up to the WorldTour.

Bulgac joins Degenkolb who won this race back in 2011 and who will be looking to get up there at the finish once again, using the confidence gained from a successful start to the season.

Joining him are fellow sprinters Jonas Ahlstrand and Nikias Arndt (GER) giving the team a few options for a fast finish if needed. They are shouldered by a strong support team including 'the breakaway-killer' Cheng Ji.

"We head to Frankfurt with a clear goal, to race for a sprint with John in his home race," said Team Giant-Shimano coach, Rudi Kemna (NED).

"But everybody knows that this is what we will aim to ride for so we will have to be clever about how we try and control the race.

"It will also be Brian's first race with us and a good one for him to find his way in a race where teamwork will be very important."

Team Giant-Shimano for Tour de Romandie

Thierry Hupond (FRA)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE)
Luka Mezgec (SLO)
Georg Preidler (AUT)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
Tom Veelers (NED)

Team Giant-Shimano for Rund um den Finanzplatz

Jonas Ahlstrand (SWE)
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Bert De Backer (BEL)
Brian Bulgac (NED)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Cheng Ji (CHN)
Tom Peterson (USA)