British national champion Peter Kennaugh is back in action today for Team Sky in the Gran Piemonte road race in Italy.
Kennaugh is joined on Sky's squad for the UCI 1.HC-ranked race by new British Sky recruits Tao Geoghegan Hart and Alex Peters. The 20 and 21-year-olds joined Sky towards the end of the 2015 season as stagiaires, with Peters now signed up on a pro contract with the team for 2016.
Belarusian time trial world champion Vasil Kiryienka, Australian Richie Porte, American Ian Boswell, Czech rider Leopold König and Colombian Sebastián Henao complete Sky's eight-man roster.
The start list (see below) predominantly features Italian riders, looking to make a good end-of-season show for the home crowds.
Michele Scarponi (Astana), Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep), Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Garmin), Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) are among the Italians seeking to make their mark on the race.
The 185-kilometre route can be broadly chopped into two halves with different characters: the first half from the start in San Francesco al Campo is relatively flat, the ideal terrain for a breakaway to shape up; the second half is much more hilly with the two key climbs of Alice Superiore and Prascorsano before a finishing circuit to the line in Ciriè.
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Gran Piemonte 2015 profile
The race - formerly known as the Giro del Piemonte - returns to the calendar after a two-year absence. The last winner was Colombian Rigoberto Uran (riding for Sky) in 2012.
Gran Piemonte is the second of the three races included in the trittico di autunno, which also comprises yesterday's Milano-Torino, won by Diego Rosa (Astana), and Sunday’s Il Lombardia.
Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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