Irish riders Ben Healy and Eddie Dunbar have both been named on the provisional start list for the Giro d'Italia which was published today by race organisers RCS Sport.
Dunbar has been named in a Team Jayco AlUla line-up that also includes Michael Matthews, Alessandro De Marchi, Michael Hepburn, Lukas Pöstlberger, Callum Scotson, Matteo Sobrero and Filippo Zana.
It was intended that Dunbar and Sobrero would be joint team leaders, both aiming for the general classification. However, with Dunbar still building his form after missing most of the early season after a crash, whether he will still rides for GC remains to be seen.
The 26-year-old Banteer man is currently riding Tour de Romandie in Switzerland and should have a much better idea of his form by the end of that race ends on Sunday.
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Healy goes into the Giro as part of an EF Education-EasyPost team that also includes Rigoberto Urán, Hugh Carthy, Jonathan Caicedo, Stefan de Bod, Odd Christian Eiking, Merhawi Kudus and Magnus Cort.
While Carthy and Urán are the stand-out names for the general classification, many will see Healy and Cort as the team's most likely riders to score a stage win.
Healy has been in outstanding form of late - with two race wins, 2nd at Amstel Gold and 4th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège all among his recent results. He will be hoping for opportunities to aim for a result at the Giro, especially as he is a stage winner in the Baby Giro and at Tour de l'Avenir, proving his ability to recover and excel during hard stage races.
Both Healy's and Dunbar's teams will officially confirm their Giro line-ups in coming days. And while the start list published today by RCS is provisional, the two Irish riders are expected to ride the Italian Grand Tour. However, they are not yet confirmed.
The Giro gets underway in Fossacesia Marina on Saturday week, May 6th.
