Katusha has announced the first six riders that are in the pre-selection for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Team manager Viatcheslav Ekimov's selection includes Gent-Wevelgem wnner Luca Paolini. The first grand tour of 2015 will be held from the 9th to the 31st of May and will start with a team time trial in San Lorenzo.

In addition to Paolini, Gianpaolo Caruso, Sergei Chernetckii, Yury Trofimov, Anton Vorobyev and Ilnur Zakarin will be at the start of the Italian grand tour, Ekimov tells R-Sport. Zakarin and Chernetckii have already been in the spotlight this year. Chernetckii won a stage in the Tour of Catalonia while Zakarin rode very strongly in the Tour of the Basque Country. He finished ninth in the overall standings. Both could target the GC in the race alongside Trofimov and Caruso who may get a rare chance to ride for himself. Youngster Voroboyev will go for glory in the long time trial while he will hope to get through his first three-week race.

The complete selection will be announced just before the start of the Giro. GC leader Joaquim Rodriguez will skip the Giro to focus on the Tour-Vuelta double while sprinter Alexander Kristoff has his eyes on success in France this summer and will prepare for the Tour by doing the Norwegian races in May.