Giro d'Italia 2019: No Chris Froome or Geraint Thomas with Egan Bernal set to lead Team Sky

Thomas (left) and Froome (right) will both focus on this year's Tour de France instead
AFP/Getty Images/Glynn Kirk
Standard Sport1 January 2019

Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas will both target the Tour de France for Team Sky in 2019, with young Colombian Egan Bernal set to lead the team at the Giro d'Italia.

Froome will not defend his Giro title as he seeks a record-equalling fifth Tour crown, but Thomas also plans to be in France having won the race for the first time in July.

Froome said: "I'm getting to the point in my career now where I'm starting to think about what kind of legacy I want to leave behind and if I am able to win the Tour de France for a fifth time and join that very elite group of bike riders - only four other people have ever done that - it would just be incredible."

Thomas added: "Maybe if I hadn't have won the Tour in 2018 I might have looked at a Giro/Vuelta programme but, having won the Tour, I'll have the number one on my back and it would be sad not to go back and not to go back at 100 per cent as well."

Thomas won the Tour despite Froome starting the race as Team Sky's leader, with the Welshman proving the stronger of the two after Froome's exploits in winning the Giro a little over a month earlier.

Froome, 33, needs one more Tour title to match the record jointly held by Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Miguel Indurain and Bernard Hinault.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images/Joaquin Sarmiento
AFP/Getty Images/Joaquin Sarmiento

Bernal, 21 (above), secured a 15th-placed finish in last year's Tour riding in support of Thomas and Froome, and is viewed as one of the sport's brightest prospects.

"The Giro is a race that I really, really like," the Colombian said. "I lived in Italy for three years, so I have a lot of friends there and I really like the Italian fans. I know the roads, I really like the Giro, and I want to do a good race there."

Team Sky's riders go into the season facing an uncertain future with the broadcaster due to end its investment in the sport after the coming season.

Giro d'Italia 2019

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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