The Team Sky management have said that for now Richie Porte will continue to lead the British team at the Giro d'Italia but that a definitive decision will be made within the span of ten days.

Last week a report in the Sidney Morning Herald speculated that Porte's Giro d’Italia participation was "under a cloud" after the Australian suffered from gastroenteritis during Tirreno-Adriatico, abandoning on stage five and then subsequently abandoned the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya mid-way through stage two, clearly in poor health.

"It has compromised my Giro preparation," Porte told The Sydney Morning Herald, "I'm not sure. I will have to make a decision with David Brailsford and Tim Kerrison."

Before the start of Sunday's stage seven of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Cyclingnews.com spoke to Dario Cioni of Team Sky to obtain an update about Porte's situation vis-a-vis the Giro d’Italia, scheduled to be Porte’s maiden Grand Tour as a team leader before continuing his season by playing a support role for Chris Froome in the Tour de France.

"As always we will be previewing and reviewing the situation, it's in constant motion, and next week we will sit down as a group, us coaches, to assess where we are. Of course our goal is to keep the rider in the best condition possible," Cioni told Cyclingnews.com.

Pressed for a more detailed elaboration, Cioni said "Abandoning a race is never ideal and for Richie, at Tirreno he showed he was where he needed to be because he rode hard on the first tough mountain stage and got back up to Alberto (Contador - Tinkoff-Saxo, when the Spaniard attacked). He paid for that effort, but only got dropped by Alberto.

"So it was a real pity that he had that illness, I think he would have been with Alberto."

Until further notice, Porte's program remains unaltered, containing a training camp on the Teide in the Canaries, then the Giro di Trentino, then the Giro d’Italia, and ultimately the Tour de France.

"It's like a big jigsaw puzzle, we're constantly shifting pieces around," Cioni said. "The Tour is the priority of the season for this team, and then you work backwards and try to work out how you can be best there." And he still sees doing the two Grand Tours for Porte as feasible.

"Don't forget we were going to do that last year with Bradley [Wiggins], it's true that you need a big engine but we are talking about top-level riders. And a lot depends on how you manage the time between the Giro and the Tour. It's not easy, but it can be done," Cioni told Cyclingnews.com.