Will Ivan Basso be clad in pink at  the end of the Giro?
                                                          Photo: Bettini

 Former two-time winner Ivan Basso will spearhead the Liquigas team's bid for glory at the Giro d'Italia which begins in Herning, Denmark on Saturday. Basso won the race in 2006 and 2010 but was not 100 percent certain to compete in the three-week epic until last Saturday night when Liquigas named their nine-man team.

   Basso, a former runner-up at the Tour de France, said: "I'm feeling good and I'm really looking forward to racing this Giro.

   "I've done a lot of hard work preparing for the race. Now I feel ready to compete for the pink jersey."

   Basso, 34, is at home on the climbs and in time trials and will be relying mainly on Polish teammate Sylwester Smzyd, as well as Eros Capecchi, Valerio Agnoli, Maciej Bodnar and Paolo Longo Borghini in the mountains. Italian Fabio Sabatini is the team's hope for the bunch sprints, following the late withdrawal of Elia Viviani who suffered a hip injury setback at the world track cycling championships in Melbourne.

  Liquigas team for Giro d'Italia:
Valerio Agnoli (ITA), Ivan Basso (ITA), Maciej Bodnar (POL), Eros Capecchi (ITA), Damiano Caruso (ITA), Paolo Longo Borghini (ITA), Fabio Sabatini (ITA), Cristiano Salerno (ITA), Sylwester Szmyd (POL)