Gianni Moscon will miss the Giro d’Italia, report suggests

Gianni Moscon will not ride the 2019 Giro d'Italia as planned, with Team Ineos instead holding him back for a possible return to the Tour de France later in the season, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The British team will now take the start line in Bologna on May 11 without a star leader, one year after winning the race with Chris Froome.

Moscon was originally meant to take on a team leadership role in the Giro alongside Egan Bernal, but the Colombian will now miss the race after crashing in training and breaking his collarbone. Moscon will apparently miss the race due to a poor run of form, which saw him trying to build his condition in the spring Classics after an early season marred by setbacks.

>>> Giro d’Italia 2019 route: stage-by-stage analysis, elevation and maps

"I trained well after Paris-Roubaix, I felt good," Moscon told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "If I'm not racing, no drama, I'll race other events."

The Italian newspaper has reported that Moscon will not start what would have been his first Giro d'Italia after riding his first ever Grand Tour last year, helping Geraint Thomas to his Tour de France win. Moscon's Tour was cut short, however, when he threw a punch at another rider in the peloton early on stage 15 and was sent home by the race jury.

The 25-year-old Italian made his return by winning three one-day races and the Tour of Guangxi overall classification. His 2019 season, though, has seen him suffer setbacks after crashing in the UAE Tour and also quitting Tirreno-Adriatico after two days. He then went on to ride an anonymous Classics season and rarely troubled the higher places.

Without Bernal and Moscon, Team Ineos will likely give the leadership to one of their younger riders. 21-year-old Pavel Sivakov could be an option after recently winning the Tour of the Alps 2019, the Russian having also won the under-23 Giro d'Italia in 2017.

Tao Geoghegan Hart, 24, could also be given a role to play alongside to Sivakov, the Brit having won two stages in the Tour of the Alps and finishing second overall.

"The Giro's my biggest goal of the year and I'm looking forward to it. I'm really excited. I love racing in Italy. It's a great place to race," Geoghegan Hart said.

"The Tifosi are super. I enjoy hearing how the fans say, 'Dai Chris, Dai Chris!' Then 'Dai Vincenzo! Dai Vincenzo!' For me that's perfect, that's what makes cycling special, you don't have to have one team, you can support everyone."

New signings Colombian Ivan Sosa, 21, and Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez, 22, are also rumoured be a part of the eight-man roster, which should officially be announced in the next few days.