Guillaume Boivin selected to race Giro d’Italia by Israel Cycling Academy
Canadian confirmed to start his third career Grand Tour in Jerusalem in May
Guillaume Boivin will be headed for the Giro d’Italia’s Jerusalem Grande Partenza in May. The 28-year-old Montreal native was confirmed on the roster by his Israel Cycling Academy team on Monday. The confirmation of his selection comes a day after he finished 52nd in the Amstel Gold Race.
What is this image tell you? Well for us, it explains why we chose him to in the @giroditalia . Congrats @Guillaumeboivin . Picture: @noaarnon pic.twitter.com/lDDTHlIVfQ
— Israel Start-Up Nation / Israel Cycling Academy (@YallaIsraelSUN) April 16, 2018
With the Giro starting in Israel, Boivin’s team bolstered their roster in the offseason to ensure their selection for their first Grand Tour. Already confirmed to start the Giro for the team co-owned by Canadian-Israeli Sylvan Adams are Belgian climber Ben Hermans, Latvian champion Krists Neilands and Spanish veteran Rubén Plaza. The Israeli team is likely to have the most nationalities represented on its roster with an Israeli rider also likely to be amoung the eight-man roster when the Grand Tour starts.
Adams, who played an important role bringing the Giro to Israel and helping the team move to the UCI pro continental level, said he hoped both his nationalities would be represented on the team. “I hope to see at least one Israeli and at least one Canadian on the Giro team. These are my two nationalities but we will leave that decision up to the professionals,” Adams said.
With Boivin’s confirmation, there are now four roster spots left to be filled by a shortlist of 11 riders. One of those riders is likely to be one of the teams young Israeli riders.
“The Israelis will be required to meet the same criteria as all the other riders selected,” team manager Kjell Carlström said. “They’ve already proved that they can help this team significantly. We start in Israel but we finish in Italy. On top of being able to help the team and being maybe in a breakaway, he has to be able to make it through the whole Giro with the team.”
Canadian Michael Woods of EF Education First-Drapac is the other Canadian likely to be at the Giro start planning his early season around targeting the general classification at the Italian Grand Tour.
