Cav leads Team Sky squad for Giro

Team Sky has revealed their Giro d'Italia squad and Mark Cavendish heads a nine-man line-up looking to add to his seven stage wins.

The 26-year-old is joined by team-mates Bernie Eisel, Juan Antonio Flecha, Sergio Henao, Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Geraint Thomas and Rigoberto Urán for the 95th running of Italy's premier bike race, which runs from May 5th till May 27th. Cavendish, the world road race champion, seems set to benefit from the strongest lead-out train that Team Sky could put together for the race. Long-time domestique Eisel will ride alongside three other Brits, Thomas, Kennaugh and Swift, who were part of Great Britain's team pursuit squad at the recent Track World Championships. Cavendish has enjoyed a strong start to 2012, with four race wins already under his belt, and he is currently riding the Tour de Romandie to ensure he will be "raring to go" when the Giro d'Italia gets underway. "The Giro is one of my favourite races of the season and I'm very happy to be riding it. We've got a good squad to go and win stages," said the sprinter. "Geraint, Pete and Swifty have just come off the track so they should have that explosive power which will be important in the first week, and the rest of the team have all done well in the Classics. "We want to win the team time trial as well and hopefully that will get us the pink jersey. If we could achieve that it would be a massive honour for the team."