Gianni Meersman in pursuit of the stage wins at the Giro d’ Italia after convalescing from the crash
Gianni Meersman has recovered from the knee injury and is now eyeing the Giro d’ Italia as the biggest goal of his 2012 season.
The injury restricted him from riding the La Fleche Wallonne and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the cyclist is determined to make up for the lost races at the 95th edition of the Giro d’ Italia.
He will be part of a strong Belgian side and will be supported by, Lars Bak, Gaetan Bille, Bulgac Brian, Bart De Clercq, Francis De Greef, Adam Hansen, Olivier Kaisen and Dennis Vanendert.
Meersman has already tasted victories in the 2012 season and his first win of the season came during the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2012.
He also succeeded at the first stage of the Paris-Nice and his outstanding performance at the Tour de Romandie has boosted his confidence for the coming event.
Gianni finished second during the stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie and is optimistic to use his confidence at the first Grand Tour race of the year.
"I personally went to the presentation and meeting and it was immediately clear that a number of stages fit Gianni Meersman like a glove, with a steep finish” Team Manager Marc Sergeant noted.
“Gianni has been working up to the Giro and knows how to pick his races".
While commenting on the De Clearcq and Francis De Greef he cited, "We can't make the mistake of pushing them towards the top 10, but a place in the top 20 is realistic”.
"In this way it might be possible for one of them to slip away in an escape from the peloton, and lift their rankings".
Bart de Clearcq represented the team as a neo-pro during the 2011 version of the Italian race and was impressive with his 26th overall finish.
He also claimed the 7th stage of the race and is positive for the coming version of the contest.
Team Lotto-Belisol’s performance in the current season is towards the down side and it has only managed to earn 212 UCI points in the season.
It currently holds the 13th overall spot at the UCI Team’s Rankings and Giro d’ Italia is a good opportunity for the Belgian side to take a big leap at the team’s classifications.
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