Marcel Kittel is ready to face Mark Cavendish and André Greipel in Tirreno-Adriatico when he leads Giant-Shimano in the Italian race that starts today. For the hillier stages, the team looks to Simon Geschke, Tom Dumoulin, and Tobias Ludvigsson to come away with a result.

The seven-stage Italian race, which runs from Wednesday to Tuesday gets underway with a fast, flat 16.9km team time trial from Donoratico to San Vincenzo.

The following two stages will be a good opportunity for the sprinters and with Marcel Kittel lining up for Team Giant-Shimano, the team will be riding firmly for a fast bunch finish here.

The mid stages, four and five, will be more for the opportunists and the climbers, before a final sprint stage on stage six and a finishing 9.2km individual time trial to end with.

Tom Veelers returns to the team here in Italy after missing the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen last week due to knee problems, and he will be a vital addition to the driving force in the bunch sprints.

"The first goals for Tirreno are the sprint stages with Marcel," said coach Aike Visbeek. "We have a good lead-out train here to support him for these and he has already showed his power this season in Dubai so he stands a good chance of a result.

"With our more opportunistic riders, like Tobias Ludvigsson, Simon Geschke and Tom Dumoulin we will be aiming to fight for a stage win on the hilly stages, and Tom and Tobias will also focus on the time trial.

"For the team time trial we want to progress in the discipline and test ourselves so the guys will be looking to get that right and perform well from the start."

Team Giant-Shimano for Tirreno-Adriatico:

Nikias Arndt (GER)
Roy Curvers (NED)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Tom Veelers (NED)

You can read our preview of the race here and of the first stage here.