Giro d'Italia race guide

Get the lowdown on the first Grand Tour of the season as we go in search of our first Maglia Rosa win.

The 99th edition of the Giro d'Italia looks set to be as spectacular as ever, with a star-studded line-up ready to do battle at the first Grand Tour of the season.

We return to Italy in search of our first Maglia Rosa win led by new signing Mikel Landa, who will be hoping to improve upon his third place finish last year.

The race starts in the Netherlands, with the opening individual time trial followed by two sprinter-friendly stages, before the race heads home to Italy from stage four onwards.

Our line-up

Landa will lead the team on the back of his assured and impressive win at the Giro del Trentino, and he returns to the race having excelled last year, when he won back-to-back stages and finished third overall in support of Astana team-mate Fabio Aru.

He'll be aided by Nicolas Roche, who will be making his 16th Grand Tour appearance fresh from his second place at the Tour de Yorkshire, and experienced campaigner Philip Deignan, whose knowledge and strength will be crucial across the three weeks.

Mikel Nieve has a top-10 Giro finish to his name and has started the season in strong form, while Vuelta a Espana stage winner David Lopez will also be crucial to Landa once the road ramps upwards.

The younger pairing of Ian Boswell and Sebastian Henao will be keen to impress, and while Henao has two top-10 Giro stage finishes to his name, this is only American Boswell's second Grand Tour, after he rode in the Vuelta a Espana last season.

Christian Knees is one of the most dependable riders in the team and his experience will be invaluable, while sprinter Elia Viviani will be hunting for victories in his home Grand Tour.

To find out more about our line up, click HERE.

Race overview

In traditional fashion the second half of the race looks like it will be much tougher than the first, with the race really kicking into action from stage 13 onwards. The 99th edition starts in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, and will move to Italy for stage four. There are three individual time trials of varying character: stage one is a 10km opening blast, stage nine a more traditional rolling 40km test, and stage 15 is a vicious 10.8km uphill challenge. Stages 13 and 14 are back-to-back mountain tests, while the race looks likely to be decided on stages 19 and 20, which are gruelling stages in the Alps.

Key stages

It feels churlish picking out a queen stage on the Giro d'Italia's punishing route but the most pivotal day looks likely to be the penultimate one. Stage 20 is only 134km but features 4100m of climbing across three category one climbs and there is barely any flat road for the riders to enjoy. It will be dramatic.

The crucial time trial on stage 15 is a serious 10.8km uphill test. After a 1.8km false flat run from the line the riders will hit the 9km 8.3% climb which is likely to cause serious time splits on the overall leaderboard.

Our history

Team Sky have yet to win the Giro d'Italia but we have picked up several stage victories across our six-year history and claimed a podium finish in 2013.

Sir Bradley Wiggins won the 2010 prologue and he returned in 2013 as one of the race's favourites but, after a crash on stage eight, he succumbed to a chest infection on stage 13 and pulled out of the race. Rigoberto Uran took over the team leadership and, after storming to an impressive victory on stage 10, he went on to finish second behind winner Vincenzo Nibali.

Earlier in the 2013 edition, Italian Salvatore Puccio had the honour of wearing the Maglia Rosa after we won the stage two team time trial, while fellow Italian Elia Viviani also wore the sprinters' Maglia Rossa after winning stage two in 2015. Richie Porte started the race as our leader last year but pulled out on the second rest day and we threw our weight behind Leopold Konig, who went on to finish a creditable sixth.

Riders to watch

2013 winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) starts the race as one of Landa's key rivals, while Rigoberto Uran leads Cannondale at a race they've set out as their key goal for the season. Remarkably 36 year old Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) will be making his Giro d'Italia debut and will hope to claim the title at the first time of asking. Coppi e Bartali winner Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-RusVelo) could surprise a few people, while Elia Viviani will have to do battle with Marcel Kittel (Etixx - Quick-Step), Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) for sprint wins.

TV coverage

Every stage will be shown live on Eurosport 1.